https://www.dallasnews.com/news/dallas/2017/04/30/officer-fatally-shoots-15-year-old-balch-springs
I wish I could say I’m shocked but that wouldn’t be true. The police chief has already said the video contradicts the officers statement, so I hope this officer will be charged.
My heart aches for Jordan’s parents.
I just watched the chiefs rambling presser. I am disgusted. I wish I could say thank goodness there is video but I can’t even say that. We’ve seen bad cops walk even when there is video evidence. I am so angry.
We should all be angry… my fear is that, instead, we’ve become numb. And bastards get away with murder…
Again. I am speechless with anger and sorrow. I watch his parents on tv and wish I could pour some love into them. If my son were black, I think I would live in terror. We have to find some way to stop this.
Another child murdered by a trigger happy officer. I hope the parents get justice.
@Consolation I do live in terror everyday. Jordan’s parents did everything right, raised a respectable young man, who had the foresight to leave the party when things got out of hand. It still didn’t help him.
@partyof5, I am so sorry. It just isn’t right. It is a national tragedy. An outrage.
I think that police departments need to drastically rethink how they select and train police officers. Maybe if they started thinking of themselves as PEACE officers, we’d see less testosterone-fueled authoritarian I’m a big man because I carry a gun behavior. Which would be a start, anyway. Obviously they need some serious and frequent racially-oriented training. I wonder if these guys ever take a cass that makes them confront white privilege and realize that THEY are perhaps the mostly deadly face of that privilege?
=(( No family needs this in the back of their minds as they leave the house. The constant background stress must be taking an unseen toll on health.
Increasing the number of women on the police forces may help. Unfortunately women are still very outnumbered.
http://www.startribune.com/female-police-officers-de-escalation-skills-changing-tone-in-minneapolis/419665033/
"…The Rev. David Couper, a longtime Twin Cities cop who later became police chief in Madison, Wis., said female officers bring a more nuanced approach to crime-fighting, crucial to improving relations in minority neighborhoods where some residents have long been distrustful of anyone with a badge.
“If you want to handle the excessive use of force problem today, the obvious answer would be to hire more women,” Couper said. “There’s a lot less testosterone floating around in the place. It’s calming where there are women…”
We have a young relative who wants to become a cop because he likes the respect that he thinks people have for the job. That is the worst reason ever! He says nothing about helping victims, making the community safe,etc. It is all about him and his ego. Fortunately I don’t think he could pass the academic requirements.
“I do live in terror everyday”
@partyof5 heartbreaking.
Very sad. Sounds like a nice kid who had a bright future. HAD a bright future. Can’t imagine how the parents are feeling. I’m normally not a “vengeful” type of person, but if someone killed my child under these circumstances, I’d have a hard time holding back the bitterness.
This case really gets to me. So the officer has been fired. It now comes out that his brothers watched him die, they arrested one of them and held him at the station overnight. When the dad came to find out what was going on, he was also arrested.
That is just horrifying. Like an alternate reality, a nightmare reality.
Unfortunately, it’s the testosterone-fueled authoritarian, etc. types who are drawn to law enforcement as a career. I believe insecurity and the need to prove oneself are often present as well, and are big factors in police malfeasance. But I don’t know how we get better people in law enforcement. It’s a dirty job and I sure don’t want my kids doing it.
I have to say I find it offensive when, as in this case, news reports about the violent death of an innocent young person are at pains to point out his academic prowess and/or sports ability, as if that somehow makes the situation more tragic. Every child is valuable and irreplaceable, even the average or poor students and the couch potatoes.
You are absolutely on point. This is an alternate reality for WHITE PEOPLE.
It is not for black people. Even nice, middle class, law abiding black people who “do everything right.”
What is it going to take to get through to the people whose response to Black Lives Matter is “All lives matter” or “Blue lives matter.” Well of course they do. It’s just that society too often doesn’t act like it when it comes to BLACK LIVES. Get over yourself and take an honest look at our society.
I feel like pounding my head on a wall.
BTW, MommaJ, you are right. Whenever something like this happens–AGAIN–certain people start examining the life of the victim as if to suggest that someone who isn’t perfect somehow deserves to be killed for nothing at all.
This is why I have black friends who are contemplating leaving the country. Unfortunately I don’t think the current political climate is going to make it easy to make the kind of policing changes necessary. 
@mathmom you are right about the current political climate. The DOJ announced yesterday that no charges are being pursued in the Alton Sterling case.
From the Vox article on Alton Sperling (I am not certain if it is ok to link):
…“Black teens were 21 times as likely as white teens to be shot and killed by police between 2010 and 2012, according to a ProPublica analysis of the FBI data…”
It saddens me. I’m going to hopefully one day be the grandparent of a biracial grandchild. No mother should have to bury her child under these circumstances. What are some of the steps we can take to change this?
DOJ leaked the Sterling news. No heads up to local officials. Or his family. It’s appalling how badly they handled it–even aside from the findings.
@mom60 I think we need to show up for the black community. When there where meetings in DC about the children that were missing, the white community was MIA.
We have to show up for education. Donate to underfund school programs. Donate time and effort to after school programs. Guide kids through the application process. Be open to mentoring at work.
We have to let conversations be awkward. No more internally fuming when Uncle Ted says something offensive. the bravest thing my kid ever did as a child was tell a woman she was racist when the woman said she didn’t want her son dating a Mexican. She didn’t yell it but was persistent and the woman backed off that statement.
The police are shaped by society and society needs to get it that this is not tolerated