Residents of Los Angeles, California know that issues with the homeless population are serious and widespread, but the way that LA police have chosen to deal with the problem is not only inhumane, but incredibly violent, and endemic of the police state we all live in.
When police killed a homeless Cameroonian immigrant last March, his death was officially ruled to be justified because police claimed that the mentally ill man reached for an officer’s gun. Police refused to release any body-cam footage to corroborate the story and now the closed case has sealed the records.
The only problem with the officer’s account is that eyewitnesses recorded the violent interaction, showing that the small army of officers handled the situation about as terribly and as violently as they could’ve.
The situation seemed out of control from the start. The officers clearly did not even attempt to de-escalate the situation before resorting to lethal action, a nation-wide issue with our police force.
Why could this host of officers not control one middle aged man, somehow needing him to die for his crime of being homeless? What weak, sad men these officers are to kill a mentally ill man for daring to sleep on the sidewalk.
Warning: this video shows death and violence, and also features foul language. Please watch.
