African American
Related: About this forumPolice aggressively questioned girlfriend of African-American man gunned down by cop in Walmart
Police aggressively questioned the tearful girlfriend of a young black man they had just shot dead as he held a BB gun in an Ohio supermarket accusing her of lying, threatening her with jail, and suggesting her boyfriend had planned to shoot the mother of his children.
Tasha Thomas was reduced to swearing on the lives of her relatives that John Crawford III had not been carrying a firearm when they entered the Walmart in Beavercreek, near Dayton, to buy crackers, marshmallows and chocolate bars on the evening of 5 August.
You lie to me and you might be on your way to jail, detective Rodney Curd told Thomas, as she wept and repeatedly offered to take a lie-detector test. After more than an hour and a half of questioning and statement-taking, Curd finally told Thomas that Crawford, 22, had died.
As a result of his actions, he is gone, said the detective, as she slumped in her chair and cried.
Crawford had been shot by police officer Sean Williams , after a customer called 911 and claimed the 22-year-old was pointing a gun at passersby. Surveillance footage released later showed Crawford picking up the BB rifle from a shelf, wandering the aisles and occasionally swinging the gun at his side while he spoke on his cellphone to his ex-girlfriend.
A 94-minute police video recording, released to the Guardian by the office of Mike DeWine, the Ohio attorney general, in response to a public records request, shows Thomas, 26, being interviewed by Curd after she was driven from Walmart to the Beavercreek police department. Curd later told investigators he had not yet been told Crawford only had a BB gun that had been on sale at the store.
Curd promptly asked Thomas whether she and Crawford had criminal records. Already tearful and breathless, Thomas explained that she may have had some traffic offences and had been arrested for petty theft as a juvenile.
The detective then became increasingly aggressive and banged on the table between them with his hand. Tell me where he got the gun from, Curd repeated. Thomas insisted Crawford had been carrying only a white plastic grocery bag when they arrived at Walmart to buy the ingredients to make smores at a family cook-out.
Asked one of several times whether Crawford owned a gun, Thomas said: Not that I know.
Curd told her: Dont tell me not that you know, because thats the first thing I realise somebodys not telling me the truth.
He later repeated: You need to tell me the truth and You need to be truthful.
Crawford was talking on his cellphone to LeeCee Johnson, the mother of his two sons, when he was shot by Williams. Curd repeatedly suggested to Thomas that Johnson, who was in fact at home in Cincinnati, may also have been in the Walmart store and that Crawford was there to attack her.
Did he ever mention Im going to shoot that bitch or something like that? the detective asked Thomas, who insisted that Crawford had not. Johnson, whom Thomas had never met, was miles away and listened over the phone while Crawford died.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/police-aggressively-questioned-girlfriend-of-african-american-man-gunned-down-by-cop-in-walmart/
progressoid
(49,943 posts)But since they can literally get away with murder, I doubt anyone will even consider it.
Also, why are these stories always in British papers?
- - Never mind, I already know.
grahamhgreen
(15,741 posts)Led to crawford death?
Disturbing actions by the officer above.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)JustAnotherGen
(31,780 posts)That detective is a dirt bag.
safeinOhio
(32,635 posts)lie all they want to get you to say something. You can not lie to them. That is why you should always answer every question with, "I don't answer questions without a lawyer present".
heaven05
(18,124 posts)has bred and is continually breeding some vicious, mean, evil people who's only reason for living is to have people fear them and their perceived power. If this existence is all there is and no justice/balancing of the scales will ever happen to clowns like this....I ........., :storm ......they really do deserve what they give out....zimpig...wilsonthepig and the host of other murderers/executioners on the streets of amerika today.
Flatulo
(5,005 posts)It's tempting to blame the paranoia after 9/11, but I've seen it going downhill since the 80s. Police departments large and small seem to be recruiting the most brutish, bullying, physically intimidating animals that they can find. They all look like they're on steroids (seriously, have you noticed the size of these brutes? They could crush you with one hand).
They've been given carte blanche to break the law routinely, searching people's cars with no probable cause, and of course, shooting minorities on sight in many cases.
I think we need congressional investigations into police brutality, and I'd like to see mandatory hiring requirements of more women and minorities. We also need to bring back community policing; get the cops out of the patrol cars and into the communities. In addition, the gun should be used as a last resort; how many lives would have been spared if the Taser or pepper spray was the first response.
Lastly, police brutality absolutely must be investigated by outside special investigators who represent the public, not the police.
I know I haven't offered anything new here, but I did want to show some solidarity with the minority community.