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They’re not even trying to make good excuses anymore.

Protestors Rally At Columbus Police Department After Killing Of Donovan Lewis

Source: Gaelen Morse / Getty

Last week, BOSSIP reported that Officer Ricky Anderson an unarmed Black man in the early hours of August 30 in Columbus, Ohio. Police arrived at Donovan Lewis’ apartment at 2 a.m. to serve a felony domestic assault warrant. The 20-year-old was unarmed in bed with nothing but a vape pen when Anderson fatally shot him. Like clockwork, WSYX reports the cop fired immediately at the unarmed man because he “believed his life was in danger.”

“He was devastated that he was placed in a situation where he had to use lethal force. As a parent himself, his heart goes out to the Lewis family. The human eye captures things differently than a body camera. There are different angles and stuff like that. But tactically everything that was done prior is sound. Everything that was done was by his training,” according to defense attorney Mark Collins.

“Sometimes they are in a situation where they have to make a split-second decision. And in this situation, Anderson believed what he saw was a gun, and so that is why he fired because he believed his life was in danger,” he predictably said.

Isn’t that convenient? This trigger-happy cop who can’t tell the difference between a gun and a vape pen followed his training. This is why after decades of begging for police reform, activists and communities seek to defund and abolish the police. It doesn’t take billions and billions of dollars worth of military gear and so-called training to shoot first and ask questions later.

“Of course, he was mistaken, that it was not a gun,” Collins continued. “But was that mistake reasonable? The Supreme Court cases and the jury instructions give deference to police officers in these type of situations because all across America everyday officers are in those situations.”

Again, this only strengthens the case for abolition. The police didn’t prevent the crime that led to the warrant. The system repeatedly lets cops get away with crimes and deadly mistakes. If anything, the law should hold officers to higher standards with more accountability than civilians. Nurses, paramedics, and social workers all deal with violent and volatile situations, but they don’t have a license to kill just because they’re scared.

Rex Elliott, attorney for the Lewis family, said there was no justification to shoot Donavan. Police didn’t find any guns at the scene. “Officer Anderson opened the door and almost immediately fired a shot into the bedroom as Donovan was trying to get out of bed,” he explained.

While police already had two others detained, they called out and searched the apartment for Lewis. Anderson’s lawyer justified Lewis’ death because he didn’t instantly follow commands. Interesting how reacting too slow out of fear for your life is a death sentence for a Black man, but the same reason allows cops to get away with murder.

“Our client definitely saw something in his hand and case law in these type of cases indicate that you don’t even need something in the hand. I believe in this situation the protocols that were followed were textbook,” Collins said.

“Meaning the officers who were there initially to serve the lawful warrant did what they did. They believed someone was in there. They didn’t just go barging in. They didn’t go in a rush. They said what is our next step and tactically speaking the next step is to try to use the canine.”

He continued, “Knowing what Rick Anderson knew at that time, when in that situation, based on the totality of the situation, any reasonable officer could do the same type of action.”

If the textbooks say cops can invade a home in the middle of the night and kill the shocked occupants for any reason, even if they’re at the wrong address, reform isn’t enough.

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