When someone dies at the hands of a police officer, it's impossible to just shrug off the loss of life as the kind of thing that happens in the name of public safety.
It's always a tragedy, a life cut short.
What’s the point?
Although some racially suspect law enforcement actions have been deserving of criticism, a recent police-involved shooting in Fayetteville doesn’t appear to fit the mold.
Such was the case on April 22, when a Fayetteville police officer shot 33-year-old Willie Sherman Tillman of Marianna to bring a violent struggle to an end. Less than three weeks later, about 40 people gathered outside the Fayetteville Police Department to pay their respects to Tillman, promote the "Black Lives Matter" movement and question why Tillman had to die.
The truth is, he didn't.
Who's to blame for the tragic outcome is the real question they're asking. The demonstrators want to use Tillman's death as a springboard for their predetermined attitudes about law enforcement officers, attitudes that suggest the death of a black man must by its very nature reflect individual or collective shortcomings with regard to racial attitudes. Given some of the egregious acts against black people by criminally aggressive officers in other jurisdictions, one can hardly cast blame if anyone -- particularly a person of color -- develops a skeptical attitude about how minorities are treated.
The Washington County Prosecutor's Office continues to review the findings of an investigation by the Washington County Sheriff's Office, an external agency brought in to review the shooting. On the day of the protest, the Fayetteville Police Department released its findings that Officer Brandon Jones had violated no departmental policies in the incident that led to Tillman's death.
According to police, Jones shot Tillman four times after a traffic stop deteriorated into a fight inside a moving vehicle driven by Tillman. Officers had pulled him over for driving without headlights turned on about 2:25 a.m. The officers said Tillman stepped out of the vehicle after stopping, then dove back in and tried to drive away. Jones and Cpl. Patrick Hanby got into Tillman's vehicle and used stun guns, police said. Tillman continued to fight and Hanby was able to get out of the car. Tillman struck Jones, who was still in the moving car, several times, and Jones drew his handgun. According to the police report, Tillman grabbed the gun, then Jones fired, hitting Tillman in the chest, abdomen and leg.
State and local records outline a troubling past for Tillman involving drug possession and delivery, firearms charges and aggravated assault. He spent time in state prisons from 2005 to 2006 and again from 2007 to 2013, according to the Arkansas Department of Correction.
A man's past doesn't mean he's expendable, that's he's fair game for police brutality. But with a past like that, one can understand why officers would approach him with concern for their safety and that of the public.
Those demonstrators at the police department did what demonstrators do -- they raised questions and asserted the release of details by police was happening too slowly. Prosecutor Matt Durrett has said he did not plan to release additional information until his office had a chance to review the details to determine whether any laws were violated.
Demonstrators appeared convinced something is amiss, and any delay is reflective of suspicious behavior by authorities. The authorities, knowing their findings will be heavily scrutinized, say they're trying to be thorough.
And they should be.
It's hard not to conclude the organizers of the demonstration, such as Fernando Garcia of the Industrial Workers of America, haven't prejudged what happened and the motivations for it. Their protest appears to paint the Fayetteville Police Department with a broad brush dripping with the staining blood from unjust police-involved fatalities across the nation. That is patently unfair. Expected of such activists, but unfair.
Tillman was certainly more than what he demonstrated in those last moments. He shouldn't be painted with broad strokes, either. A friend from Marianna called him a "regular guy" who had kids, loved his mother and was an artist. None of that is apparent to any officer fighting for his life against a driver who refused to simply stop fighting or running.
As we noted, Tillman didn't have to die. Having been stopped by people hired by the Fayetteville community to be on the streets at 2 in the morning so the rest of us can sleep easier, Tillman had certain survival well within his reach. His flight-and-fight response to officers has something to do with escalating the event.
We're reminded of the civil rights activist pastor from Arizona named Jarrett Maupin known for protesting police violence. At the request of a TV news reporter, he participated in a training exercise in which he played the role of police officer in three scenarios. Faced with an aggressor who would not comply with orders, who was rapidly approaching Maupin in a violent way, the pastor fired his blank-filled gun into the man's chest.
It was a dramatization, one that critics have since called unfair. But in its wake, Maupin had this to say: "It's hard to make that call. It shakes you up ... I didn't understand how important compliance was. But after going through this, yeah, my attitude has changed. This is all unfolding in 10 to 15 seconds. People need to comply with the orders of law enforcement officers for their own sake."
Those critical of Maupin's shift in attitude complained he didn't have less-than-lethal options most police officers can access. And they're right.
But Officer Jones did. And Cpl. Hanby did. They used their stun guns, and it didn't stop Tillman's violence and his choice to endanger the community he was in.
Why did he have to die? It's a fair question ... for Tillman.
Should Fayetteville pay attention to concerns that its force is largely white and male? Yes, every department should take steps to recruit officers that help the force reflect the community it serves. Should these community institutions be ever mindful of any behaviors that treat one segment of the population differently from others? Absolutely. Should video and audio recordings be made available as soon as possible? Yes.
But demonstrators also have a responsibility not to smear an officer or a department with unjust suggestions that race was a driving force in an incident in which officers had ample reason to respond as though their lives or those of others were on the line.
The community asks these officer to protect and serve. Their jobs include the critically important responsibility to ensure they are doing that for everyone who calls Fayetteville home. Everyone.
Officers know they may have to lay their lives down in service to their community. Fayetteville and every other community owes them enough of a benefit of the doubt -- not blindness, but room to do the job they're asked to do -- so that they don't have to risk their lives without the capacity to defend themselves.
Commentary on 05/20/2016