Author credits Black Lives Matter movement with charges against Philly cops
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
"This is remarkable, because police officers are almost never criminally charged for excessive use of force," she wrote.
Michelle Alexander
Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, credits the national movement against police brutality for Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams' unusual decision last week to charge Police Officers Sean McKnight and Kevin Robinson with assaulting Najee Rivera in 2013.
"This is remarkable, because police officers are almost never criminally charged for excessive use of force," Alexander posted on her public Facebook page. "The Black Lives Matter movement deserves much credit for creating a political environment nationally in which police departments aren't able to get away with business as usual so easily. We have the power to transform the way policing happens in this country; the time is now."
According to the DA, the two officers pulled over Rivera on his motor scooter on May 29, 2013, in Fairhill. Rivera became frightened and fled on the scooter. A surveillance camera then allegedly captured the officers driving up and knocking Rivera off his scooter. The two officers then allegedly exited their car, and "grabbed and repeatedly struck Rivera with their fists and baton while Rivera, who received a fractured orbital bone and numerous lacerations to his head, cries out in pain."
A grand jury report said, "Rivera was wailing loudly and uncontrollably. Although he was moving around on the ground while being struck, he was not resisting the officers or engaging in any aggressive actions."
Alexander wrote, "I remember when I was in law school many of my (mostly white) classmates would wonder aloud why anyone would run from the police. ... But there is another America. And in that Other America, it doesn't matter whether you're innocent or guilty or if your arms are raised high or low. Any encounter with the police can prove humiliating, brutal or deadly, so avoid all contact if you can. This young man was brutally beaten by the police for no reason other than he tried to flee on his scooter."
Corruption prosecutions of Philadelphia police officers frequently make headlines, but prosecutions for excessive use of force alone are rare. It is too early to tell whether the arrest of the two officers might signal a shift in policy.
Kelan Lyons contributed to this report.
