You know of Eric Garner but have you heard of Armando Frank? You should, as the two cases are eerily similar. This was the report that the Avoyelles Parish Police Department released about Mr. Frank’s murder death:
At about 11:15 a.m. last Friday, deputies stopped Frank while he was driving a tractor in the south side of the Walmart parking lot.
Frank refused to dismount from the tractor and a struggle ensued. Frank was at first verbally combative and then became physically combative, telling deputies he would not be taken to jail, Martel said.
Frank allegedly bit one officer and struck another. A third officer was also injured in the struggle.
One of the officers discharged his Taser in an attempt to end the struggle. After he was off the tractor, Frank reportedly continued to fight the deputies, resulting in Frank being “tased” a second time.
At that point, officers noticed Frank’s breathing was becoming shallow and he was unresponsive. A deputy administered CPR while an ambulance was en route to the scene. The suspect was rushed to Avoyelles Hospital, where he died, Martel said.
Lies. All lies. Murderous lies, but at the time, there was not a whole lot of outrage. After all, as far as we knew, that was just a sad case of an overweight man over-extending himself and suffering the consequences.
The incident happened in October of last year and for almost 10 months the lies stood. Mr. Frank’s death was attributed to his weight and poor health. If only he hadn’t been so grossly outta shape, so undisciplined as to allow himself to get so fat he’d have been able to withstand the shocks of the little taser shots he got as the brave officers tried to gently restrain this out-of-control maniac.
And then the PD was forced to release the video.
Before we watch the video, let’s remind ourselves of just what crime the dead man was suspected of committing:
Armando Frank, 42, of 2124 La. Hwy 1192 in Marksville was wanted on charges of burglary of an inhabited dwelling and criminal trespassing related to an Oct. 8 incident, APSO Chief Deputy Steve Martel said.
Let’s also consider that, according to news reports, Mr. Frank was well-known in the area. They knew that he was a veteran and that he suffered from mental illness. The cop asked for and was given his identification, and I watched him look at the open wallet. He’d have seen his Veteran ID Card, no?
Todd said Frank had moved back to Avoyelles Parish from Houston after serving in the U.S. Air Force, including a stint in Afghanistan. She said her cousin was autistic and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
What you’ll see in the video is a very calm Mr. Frank asking very reasonable questions of his killers. “Where is the warrant?”“Who signed the warrant?”“What does the warrant say?” He kept insisting that they show him a warrant but how dare a black man question the almighty cops drunk on their own sense of power? Who does he think he is talking to about his right to see a warrant? Within two minutes of them arriving on the scene they initiated physical contact; within eight minutes of them arriving on the scene, Armando Frank would be dead.
Dr. Tape concludes in his report that Frank's cause of death was "asphyxia due to respiratory compromise due to law enforcement arrest with contribution of hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease." The manner of death is listed as "homicide." Within the report, Dr. Tape writes that review of police body cam video shows that Frank's breathing was compromised for more than six minutes.Toxicology results only turned up positive for caffeine.
Even after they heard him struggling for breath, after he showed signs that he no longer had the energy or inclination to fight to protect his life or his dignity, two cops had their knees digging into parts of his convulsing body. Nobody offered him help. He was not a human being whose life mattered to those cops. He didn’t deserve to be respected, he didn’t deserve patience, he didn’t deserve to live. This goes beyond racism into something deep, dark and poisonous.
How many officers had to agree to the lies that the department originally greenlighted? At one point, I counted seven people around the dying, handcuffed man. Were they all interviewed? Did they all co-sign the lies?
Investigators found that the three cops involved had absolutely no choice but to murder the unarmed man and so, of course, no charges were filed against them.
Ten months after his murder, we remember Armando Frank. An unarmed black man who committed the unforgivable crime of daring to believe that he had the right to understand why he was being arrested.
We call his name. Rest in power, Armando Frank.