The Tamir Rice shooting has always reminded me of the 2005 story of Susie Pena and the Los Angeles Police Department.
And now the shooting of Korryn Gaines's child reminds me of Susie Pena too.
I wish I had a photo for you. But as you read the stories below, stories that should have been centered on Susie Pena's death, imagine a criminal with a gun in his right hand, holding a baby in front of him with his left arm as shield between him and police.
SUSIE PENA, STORY 1: Los Angeles Times dated July 11, 2005
"About 6:20 p.m., [ Jose Raul ] Lemos emerged from the building with [ a 17 month old ] toddler. He was holding a weapon and again firing erratically, shooting an LAPD tactical officer in the shoulder As other officers moved in to rescue their wounded colleague, police exchanged gunfire with Lemos. The girl also was hit.
Police said it was unclear who fired the shot that killed the girl.
THERE WASN'T MUCH WRITTEN IN THIS ARTICLE ABOUT SUSIE HERSELF. AND NOTHING WAS REALLY WRITTEN ABOUT THE POLICE DECISIONS MADE THAT LED TO HER DEATH
SUSIE PENA, STORY 2:
Los Angeles Times dated July 12, 2005
Jose Raul Pena" is the shooter's real name. "Susie Pena"is now "19 months old" instead of "17 months old.".
And now there are molestation charges mentioned.
Sixty bullets wound up being fired at 19 month old Susie (the hostage they were there to save) when her father that tried to use her as a shield and people at the newspaper couldn't be bothered to get the names and ages right the day before
"Police Chief William J. Bratton insisted Monday that the officers had no choice but to enter the building, saying that Pena, who police on Sunday had identified as Jose Raul Lemos, had repeatedly fired into the street, holding the girl [whom he was accused of molesting] in front of him and threatening to kill her.
The girl's family disputed many details of the police account, arguing that the situation could have been resolved peacefully."
Read more about how
the police are grieving
because they forced to shoot the little girl
that they were called there to save
because her father threatened to shoot her.
(You're reading this right. It doesn't make any sense)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Los Angeles Times dated July 14, 2005
The link below is about Susie Pena again, yet again, but with the child molestation accusations left out. (Were they never true?)
Now I know something I didn't know 10 years ago. This may have been a custody case gone sideways.
Eleven officers fired weapons at the scene, and 35 additional officers were witnesses. Thirty-five civilian witnesss have been identified....
[The sixteen year old step daughter who called the police had already escaped prior to Susie's being killed by police officers because he wasn't shooting at her. He was shooting at police]
Rather than the three distinct exchanges of gunfire initially described by police -- one when officers first arrived at the scene, another when the stepdaughter fled and the final barrage -- Bratton said the videotape evidence showed a "more continuous exchange of gunfire."
http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jul/14/local/me-shooting14
What kind of policy has 11 officers shoot more than 60 bullets at a tiny hostage in front of ONE CRIMINAL with ONE GUN because a grown man with a badge got shot?
What kind of policy has 11 officers shoot more than 60 bullets at a tiny hostage in front of ONE CRIMINAL with ONE GUN because a grown man with a badge got shot?
I can't really tell what happened when Susie was killed, the stories were handled so badly. But thing I'm pretty sure of is that the news story was handled so badly by the press because the child the police killed wasn't white.
And when there aren't enough public facts to offset the police fact, then incidents that have to be a mixture of incompetence and ethnoracism at best get listed as "tragic accidents" where nobody is to blame.
And when there aren't enough public facts to offset the police fact, then incidents that have to be a mixture of incompetence and ethnoracism at best get listed as "tragic accidents" where nobody is to blame.
SUSIE PENA, STORY 4
In 2009, a Los Angeles judge dismissed the family's lawsuit. I wonder if the police department sent the Los Angeles Times a thank you note when he did it?
Video from 2009
The reason I remember this story even though it's been over a decade is because I will never forget the image of that little girl being held in front of a man that turned out to be her father.
I'll never forget hearing that it was the LAPD that shot this man while he had that child in front of him. Never.
I'll also never forget how fast this news story disappeared from the white dominated media.
I tried to find out what happened to make the cops shoot that man while he held that child. I even tried to see if I could find out on Mexican television stations, but my Spanish isn't good enough.
True or not true in my heart of hearts, I will never believe that the LAPD would have shot a 19 month old white girl to death, especially when they were called there to save her. I'll always suspect they fired on Susie's father despite Susie's presence because they were angry about a grown male police officer getting shot first --the one that is supposed to get shot in defense of the public.
To tell you the truth, I didn't know until a decade later, that an officer was struck during that shoot out. Or maybe I did and I forgot. Back when this child was shot to death by police, I was skimming the stories, looking for information on why so many of them fired their weapons at a toddler. That's all I cared about. So, I might have read about the officer getting shot; dismissed it as insignificant since he wasn't the one who died; then forgot about him.
But now that I think about it, a police officer being shot might have been the most significant thing that happened the day ---just before Susie Pena was shot.
 |
| If police are going to protect themselves first, middle, last, and always then why not take this hypocrisy off their vehicles I'm not even sure police protect white people once one of their own has been shot |
Police officers have said again and again, "I was afraid for my life" when black and brown people were unarmed. And they were believed a lot of the time -- Timothy Loehmann, Darren Wilson and Michael Brelo, are walking around free right now because they were believed when they said they were afraid of Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, and Malissa Williams & Timothy Russell.
So in 2005 police officers must have been peeing on themselves, only 35 of them to one gunman and a baby --after one of their own got shot.
Now that I know that one version of this story has 60 bullet holes in the walls behind 19 month old Susie and her father, my opinion really hasn't changed.I feel certain that a white child wouldn't have been shot like Susie Pena was.
I feel certain
that a while child
with an real assault rifle
that had already fired a real bullet
on a deserted playground
would have been talked down for 2 days,
if that's what it took,
--rather than shot dead by a police officer inside two seconds like Tamir Rice was.
--rather than being shot dead by 1 of 11 officers like Susie Pena was
--rather than being shot like Korryn Gaine's child was.
--rather than being shot in the arm like Marika Wilson's child was
If police, with premeditation* in Susie's case, shooting at black and brown children doesn't let you know just how dominated black and brown people are by the dominant white culture, then what will?
Is it a symbol of racial progress if the civil case brought by Tamir Rice's parents isn't dismissed by a judge like the case regarding Susie Pena's death was?Will it be a symbol of racial progress if the civil case that ought to be brought by Korryn Gaine's people isn't dismissed by a judge like the case regarding Susie Pena's death was?
Will it be a symbol of black male progress if black men stand up for Korryn Gaines despite her messiness the way they stood up for Alton Sterling despite his predatory past?
How pathetic is it that I have to think about this in 2016?
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