Colorado deputy fatally shoots unarmed man at middle school

Source: Thomas Stone / Getty

***WARNING THIS POST CONTAINS A GRAPHIC VIDEO OF POLICE VIOLENCE**

Police departments are generally a tool of tyranny and while we’ve historically seen plenty of violent abuses of power against Black folks, their violations of civil rights and right to life don’t stop with us.

According to the Denver Post, a 32-year-old white man named Richard Ward was fatally gunned down in front of a middle school in front of his mother, her boyfriend, and several children. This is what you call safety? Make it make sense. Sheriff’s deputies were called to the scene by someone who claimed Ward was trying door handles and looked like he was “on something.”

Now, in fairness, it does appear that Ward may have been intoxicated in some way. You will see that in the video below. However, you’ll also see him nervously answering questions without any sense of aggression. The video is graphic, please take caution in viewing.

Per usual, the Tenth Judicial District Attorney Jeff Chostner chose not to press charges against deputy Charles McWhorter because he believes that they rightfully feared for their lives and took “justifiable” actions to resolve the situation. Let the Chostner tell it, during the struggle, Ward reached for his utility belt and he felt that his service weapon was in danger of being taken. Is there any evidence of that? No, not really. The video is too frantic and Chostner was completely smothering Ward leaving no angle to see what was happening underneath. In cases like this, the D.A. just blindly takes the word of the cop as gospel.

A federal wrongful death lawsuit has been filed as neither Chostner nor his partner Cassandra Gonzales provided potential life-saving aid as Ward bled out at the scene.

“My heart is broken,” Ward’s mother, Kristy Ward Stamp, said in a statement. “I have no words to explain this to Richard’s little brother. Our family has been ripped apart.”

Wonder if any of the willfully obtuse “white lives matter” folks will get out and protest this injustice or if they will still “back the blue” as one of their brethren lay slain in what appears to be cold blood? We won’t hold our breath.