The chief basically acknowledged that Hamiltons shooting was a wrongful death and that Manney had to pay for the lapse in judgment with his job, something that rarely has happened in the history of Milwaukee police officers accused of killing innocent people. Its the kind of statement that families of slain suspects in Milwaukee have sought for decades through lawsuits, Fire and Police Commission complaints and official court cases that seldom has been uttered. Now that the moment has come, it seems awfully late. It has been months since Hamilton was killed by Manney at a downtown Milwaukee park, but most of what Flynn recounted at his press conference has been common knowledge for most of that time. The shooting of unarmed Michael Brown in Ferguson was similar in some ways to the Hamilton case but luckily never came close to sparking the same outrage that sent black residents into the streets for confrontation with armed police in protests that lasted weeks. People have commented to me that they were surprised, given the firestorm in Ferguson, that Milwaukee seemed to have dodged the bullet in terms of local reaction from black residents just as fed up with wrongful police shootings as they are in other cities. Maybe Milwaukee black folks arent that fed up yet. But with some calling for more action against Manney, including prosecution, the situation bears watching. During a time when young black males are considered in danger by contact with police officers across the nation, Flynn may have been a tad too cautious in finally reaching a decision; Milwaukee could have literally been in flames with all the stonewalling and inaction during these past months. Im sure everybody wont be satisfied by Flynns decision to fire Manney, and, in truth, they shouldnt be. One man lost his job, but the other man lost his life. jsonline/news/opinion/firing-of-milwaukee-officer-in-dontre-hamilton-shooting-took-too-long-b99371243z1-279633422.html
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 04:36:00 +0000
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