a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer and reaching for his weapon. The shooting and the alleged police overreaction led to nationwide protests and demonstrations and the Black Lives Matter movement—2014.
Twelve-year-old Tamir Rice was killed. He held a replica gun. The shooting was controversial and lead to riots and demonstrations.
A Texarkana, Texas, police officer shot and killed a mentally ill man who was holding an 8-inch metal spoon.
Unjustified Shootings
In August 2011, a Eutawville, South Carolina, police chief was charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a man who complained about his daughter’s traffic ticket. The white police chief was tried twice for killing the black man. Both trials ended in hung juries. A third trial was ruled out when the former chief pleaded guilty to misconduct in office and received a one year home detention sentence (CBS News, September 1, 2015).
A Del City, Oklahoma, police captain was sentenced to four years in prison for manslaughter for the fatal 2012 shooting of an eighteen-year-old man after a short police pursuit (Dinger, February 5, 2014). Evidence at trial revealed that the police captain was under the influence of hydrocodone when he shot the teenager in the back as he ran away.
A Garland, Texas, officer was charged with manslaughter after firing forty-one times at the driver of a thirty-minute pursuit with speeds up 100 miles per hour. The officer allegedly did not give the suspect time to comply before he started shooting—2012.
Two Utah detectives shot and killed twenty-one-year-old Danielle Willard in 2012 after she allegedly tried to hit them with a car as she fled a drug buy. The district attorney ruled the shooting unjustified as their stories do not match the evidence. One officer has been charged with manslaughter, and the other was fired for an unrelated offense. Civil suits are pending (Jauregul, December 6, 2017).
A former Fairfax County, Virginia, officer pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in 2016 for the 2013 fatal shooting of a man during a domestic disturbance call (Jackson, April 18, 2016). The officer was initially charged with murder.
A white North Augusta, South Carolina, Public Safety Officer was indicted for the felony shooting a black man after a police chase—2014.
Two Albuquerque police officers were indicted for first-degree murder after shooting a homeless mentally disturbed man illegally camping—2014.
A Missouri Highway Patrol trooper was charged with first-degree involuntary manslaughter when a boater he arrested and handcuffed fell into the water and drowned—2014.
A white Norfolk, Virginia, police officer was indicted for voluntary manslaughter after shooting a mentally ill black man—twice in the back. Allegedly, the man threatened the officer with a small knife—2014.
Non-Lethal Devices Homicides
A Lake Arrowhead man died after being beaten and tased two dozen times by three San Bernardino County Sheriffs Deputies in August 2011.
CAUSE OF DEATH: Sudden cardiac death due to conducted electrical weapon discharge.
MANNER OF DEATH: Homicide
Office of Medical Examiner: New
The medical examiners report above set off a series of civil lawsuits.
In 2012 a hospital called the police and asked for a welfare check of a man who had been discharged the night before for a brain seizure. The man called the hospital and threatened to harm himself. The responding officer, a Vermont State Trooper, fired a Taser into the man’s chest after the man made a “threatening move” toward him. The trooper was cleared of all charges (Davis, June 18, 2014).
A three-hundred-pound Fort Worth, Texas, man died after being tased multiple times—2013.
Park Forest, Illinois, police officers tased a man and shot him with five bean bag rounds. One of the rounds hit the man in the stomach and killed him. The officer was charged with felony reckless conduct—2013.
An eighteen-year-old was spray painting the outside of vacant McDonald’s restaurant in Miami Beach, Florida, in 2013. When officers approached he ran off and ignored commands to stop. He charged toward an officer who shocked him with a Taser. He became unresponsive and died in the hospital.
Deputies with the Mohave County, Arizona, Sheriff’s Office chased a motorcycle without a rear license. The rider became combative and was tased twice. He stopped breathing and died—2014.
A Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, man died after being tased by several officers—2014.
A Baytown, Texas, unarmed man died after being tased twice by a Chambers County Deputy. The incident was investigated by the Texas Rangers—2014.
A Kansas City, Missouri, man died after being shocked by a Taser in 2014.
Escambia, Florida County, deputies shocked a twenty-eight-year-old man until he lost consciousness. He died two weeks later—2014.
Suicide by Cop
Lakewood, Washington, officers shot and killed a woman in what appears to be an incident of “Suicide by Cop” when she pointed what turned out to be a BB gun at them and yelled “shoot me shoot me”—February 2011.
A San Antonio man called a crisis hotline saying he was contemplating suicide. The police responded and found the man walking down the street with a handgun. He fired at the police, and they shot and killed him.
A Vermont man wanted for a suspected home invasion was being chased at night on foot through a wooded area. He turned toward a Vermont State Trooper, took a shooter stance, and pointed a cell phone at the trooper. The trooper feared that the object was a gun and shot the suspect. The trooper administered first aid, called for an ambulance, and asked the man why he did what he did. The man responded, “I wanted to die” (Anon, 2012).
A man confronted Silver Springs, Florida, police officers responding to a call about a suicidal person with a gun in his hand. They shot him and found out the weapon was a replica—2012.
In what is considered an act of suicide by cop, a Martinsburg, West Virginia, woman called 911 and made a false report. She said another woman was holding her hostage at gunpoint. When the police arrived, the woman who called in the false report came out of the house with a gun in her hand and approached the officers. The officers shot and killed her (Ains & Umstead, December 28, 2012).
In what appears to be a suicide by cop incident, a Tucson, Arizona, woman called 911 and said she was going to kill herself. The responding officers found her outside her residence with a man. She took her gun out and refused to drop it. The police fatally shot her and wounded the man—2013.
A Manheim, Pennsylvania, man called 911 and announced that he would not be taken alive. When officers arrived to investigate, he pointed a Daisy Powerline air gun with a scope at them, and they fatally shot him thinking it was a real rifle—2013.
A Sunnyvale, California, man stabbed his wife to death and then called 911. When the officers arrived, he charged at them with a knife and was shot multiple times—2013.
A twenty-one-year-old female was shot and killed by responding officers after her boyfriend called and said she was suicidal—2014.
