Tears for Daniel. Another teen killed by LAPD

Not everyone makes it out of the turbulent teen years. According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accidents, homicides, suicides, and cancer combine to rob us of thousands of youths each year. Thousands of lost boys and girls leaving thousands of grieving families behind. I wonder if the CDC will consider adding yet another category to their list of causes for teen deaths? How about death by cops?

Since the beginning of this year, police have taken the lives of 15 youngsters under the age of 18; thirty-four teens altogether when you add 19-year-olds. Again we ask, how is this acceptable?

 Daniel Perez became the latest teen victim to die at the hands of law-enforcement officers when he was killed this past Sunday. His death was totally preventable and in any sane society his killer would be charged with murder.

Young Daniel could not see a way out of the challenges he faced. He, apparently, thought death was his only option and if he wasn’t able to kill himself he knew one surefire way to get the job done. All he had to do was to set things in motion and like puppets on a string — because they are so predictable and inflexible — the cops would finish the job for him. The 16-year-old, the Chief of Police told us,  “prompted”  police to shoot him...and they dutifully obliged. 

Officers went to 48^th Street and Ascot Avenue after someone reported a man with a gun in the area, Beck said earlier this week. The officers spotted someone matching that description — a Latino man with a gray sweater and black pants — and began to approach him, Beck said.

That person, now identified as Perez, then turned and pointed a handgun at the officers, Beck said, prompting police to open fire.

See the utter incompetence of the LAPD on full display for the world to see. But wait, was that really incompetence? Or was it wanton disregard for human life?

If you cared about preserving life, you’d do as Tortmaster advises:

1. Fall back.

2. Form a perimeter.

3. Negotiate.

Of course, none of that happened. The police were called to the scene, apparently by young Daniel himself,  because someone was walking around with a gun. When cops hear that someone has a gun — especially if it’s in an urban_{(wink wink)} community —  what’s their immediate gut reaction? I would like to posit that as the call comes in and right at the point the area is identified, right at that moment that the cops get an idea of the race or ethnicity of the “subject,” right there is where implicit bias kicks in. “Gun, you say? Over there?! Let’s go take him out.”  Because why else would trained professionals respond by driving up on the suspect who they were told has a gun, get out of their cars and approach him? What did they expect would happen?

Sorrowfully shaking his head and giving the obligatory speech about cops not able to tell a toy gun from the real thing, the Chief of Police nonetheless made sure to use the word “prompted” to describe the cop’s response.  The use of that word was not accidental. The use of that word sets the stage for Daniel’s death to be filed under the category of Suicide by Cop (SBC). SBC means that the killer bears no responsibility and we are supposed to believe that he’s just heartbroken at being forced to kill a teenager who’s armed with only a toy gun. Not buying it. That boy did not have to die. He needed help, not bullets.

Rest in peace,  Daniel. Condolences to your loved ones. The fight continues.

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