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Mo’ money, mo’ murder…

A policeman's gun seen in close-up attached to the belt...

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Police kill us and then pay us, eventually. The cycle has gotten extremely common over the past few years but we still haven’t lost sight of the fact that these dollars are not a substitute  for the countless lives that have been taken by state sanctioned violence.

Sadly, we have another story of dollars and death coming from Louisiana. According to Yahoo! News, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office has settled the federal civil rights lawsuit that was filed for the choking death of then-22-year-old Keeven Robinson. On May 10, 2018, Robinson evaded arrest during a high-speed chase that ended when he crashed the car and attempted to flee on foot. Moments after being caught by officers, Keeven Robinson was dead.

A NOLA.com news report lays out the details:

Keeven Robinson, 22, died on May 10, 2018, after detectives, acting on a tip from a drug informant, tried to arrest him at a Shell gas station at Jefferson Highway and Labarre Place. He sped off, crashed, then ran through several backyards as deputies chased, authorities said.

Minutes later, Robinson was dead. An autopsy report classified it as a homicide, finding that Robinson died of compressional asphyxia after suffering “significant injuries to the neck.”

Both the autopsy and testimony from an expert of police use-of-force “concluded” that there was no excessive force used against Robinson. Despite these badge-defending efforts, the sheriff’s office still settled the lawsuit. Funny how that works. Family lawyer Clarence Roby Jr. would not confirm the terms of the settlement but made it very clear that this money does not make Keeven Robinson’s family whole:

“What is ever enough?” he asked. “There’s no amount of money that’s going to ever replace a loved one. It’s not going to bring them back. It’s not going to fill the void of a young mother with a young child who lost a father.”

Since this incident the community has been vocal about the regularly abuse that they face from Sheriff Joe Lopinto‘s administration over the years.

How much money will these cities have to pay out before they start clearing house of cops who have histories of violence like these?

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