Login

Register

Member List

RSS Feed

Amanda | Contact

Auguste | Contact

Jesse | Contact

Pam | Contact

Next entry: Weight as a cultural identifier Previous entry: I Was A Preteen Bookworm

Louisiana: police officer who shot and killed unarmed, 73-year-old cancer survivor resigns

Back in March I blogged about yet another example of cops out of control—the murder by cop of a 73-year-old black man, a cancer survivor, who was hosting a family cookout in front of his humble home in Homer, Lousiana.

Officer Tim Cox, and Officer Joey Henry showed up at Bernard Monroe's house to speak with the elderly man's son Shawn (he had a record, but didn't have any current warrants against him). The younger Monroe ran toward the house and Officer Cox pursued him and…

[T]he elder Monroe had started walking toward the front door, carrying only his drink bottle, to try to intervene. When Monroe got to the first step on the front porch, the witnesses said, Cox opened fire, striking him several times as adults and children stood nearby.

    "He just shot him through the screen door," said Denise Nicholson, a family friend who said she was standing a few feet from Monroe.  "After [Monroe] was on the ground, we kept asking the officer to call an ambulance, but all he did was get on his radio and say, 'Officer in distress.' "

    As Monroe lay dying, the witnesses said, the second police officer, who has not been publicly identified, picked up a handgun that Monroe, an avid hunter, always kept in plain sight on the porch for protection. Using a police-issue blue latex glove, the officer grasped the gun by its handle, the witnesses said, and then ordered everyone to back away from the scene.  The next thing they said they saw was the gun on the ground next to Monroe's body.

Well, here we are in August (the shooting was on Feb. 20) and there have been at least two investigations. Did anything come of this? The update is the two officers are moving on to other jobs. No one with a badge did any time for the slaying of an unarmed, elderly black man.

"Tim Cox told me he is moving to St. Tammany Parish and I think will be training canines for police departments," Colvin said. "I don't know what Joey Henry is going to do."

Both officers had been on paid administrative leave after the shooting, which is still under investigation by the FBI and state police.

"They should have been gone," said Rev. Willie Young, head of the Claiborne Parish NAACP, on Wednesday. "I don't think taxpayers should have been paying their salaries all this time."

Hat tip, Tasered While Black.

 

------

Registration is now required! We're still in the process of getting it all squared away, so for the moment don't forget to Login or Register using the links in the upper left menu before starting to write your comment.

Posted by Pam Spaulding on 08:27 AM • (10) Comments

Wasn’t St. Tammany Parish the place with all the proud people who defended their neighborhoods from Katrina refugees with the implementation of a “don’t shoot on sight until you see the dark on their skin” principle?  Sounds like that one officer is going to land on his two cloven feet.  The other one will probably get an analyst job on Fox News’ new show: The Sarah Hour That Only Goes 35 Minutes Because It’s Not Journalism As Usual.

Comment #1: 3letterjon  on  08/03  at  09:21 AM

RESIGNS? He should be in jail for the rest of his pathetic life. That’s cold-blooded murder and the fact that he was wearing a badge makes it WORSE, not better.

(And I love the OFFICER in distress call. What a piece of human garbage.)

Comment #2: Steve LaBonne  on  08/03  at  09:23 AM

And the witnesses who said officers took Monroe’s rifle off the porch and laid it next to his body. What of their testimony? Were they charged with false statements? Crickets?

Comment #3: Lesly  on  08/03  at  09:55 AM

God damn. That’s disgusting. mad

Said “officer” should be doing hard time, not just resigning, as stated by the person above.

Comment #4: Creepy Doll  on  08/03  at  11:53 AM

There is a problem in this country about ignoring proper over-site and hoping that by keeping slient nothing bad happens with them.

Comment #5: cynickal  on  08/03  at  12:43 PM

It kills me that the best we can apparently hope for is for two murderers to quit their jobs.

Comment #6: keshmeshi  on  08/03  at  02:48 PM

Bitter outrage. I remember reading this story, and was davastated by it then—the impact doesn’t lessen after a second read.

Comment #7: ilsita  on  08/03  at  11:18 PM

how do you shoot an unarmed old man?

Comment #8: atalised  on  08/04  at  03:26 AM

It kills me that the best we can apparently hope for is for two murderers to quit their jobs.

Let’s be fair now, that’s one murderer and one accessory to murder, and one count of conspiracy for each.

Comment #9: asdf  on  08/04  at  03:29 AM

Thank you for updating us on this, Pam. There is something really fucking wrong when this can happen.

Comment #10: Nenya  on  08/04  at  05:00 AM
Page 1 of 1 pages
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.