China Daily, September 2. According to CNN (CNN), at around 2 a.m. local time on August 30, police in Columbus, the capital of Ohio, shot and killed Donovan Lewis, an unarmed 20-year-old black man, while entering a home to execute a search warrant. The video shows police officer Ricky Anderson holding the police dog with one hand and pushing open the door with the other. When he saw Lewis sitting up from the bed in compliance with the police's order, Anderson immediately shot him. The police then entered the bedroom and handcuffed Lewis, who had suffered a gunshot wound and should not have moved. They yelled at him to get up from the bed, took off his clothes and dragged him out the door. Rex Elliot, a lawyer for the Lewis family, expressed his views while describing, "These police officers treated Lewis like an animal! They ignored his humanity. It's so heartbreaking!"
According to a statement from Columbus police, Lewis was pronounced dead at the hospital at 3:19 a.m. on the 30th.
This is the memorial painting in Floyd Square taken on May 22 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Image source: Xinhua News Agency
However, the police officer involved, Ricky Anderson, is currently on paid leave. The police said this was a requirement for police officers to discharge their weapons while enforcing the law.
At a news conference, Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant showed frame by frame the police body camera video and said Lewis appeared to have "something" in his hand at the moment Anderson fired. Later, police found an e-cigarette pen next to Lewis' bed, but no weapons.
Elliott refuted this statement on September 1, local time. The video did not seem to show Lewis having anything in his hand, let alone a gun. Elliott said, "The video reveals the truth frame by frame - three white police officers, accompanied by a ferocious police dog, shot and killed an unarmed 20-year-old man in cold blood as he sat up in bed following police orders. This is excessive and completely unnecessary. "Required force has become all too common in Columbus."
Elliott said Lewis' death was "senseless," saying "Officer Anderson recklessly used excessive and deadly force when he shot and killed an unarmed black man."
"How many more lives will this reckless act take before our leaders take enough action to stop these brutal killings? How many more young black lives will be lost? How many more families like Donovan's will show up at press conferences like this," Elliott asked.
The incident is just the latest in a series of deadly and controversial law enforcement shootings involving the city's black residents in recent years, which have sparked protests over racial injustice and prompted a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the Columbus Police Department.
In December 2020, a deputy from the Franklin County Sheriff's Office shot and killed 23-year-old Casey Goodson as he tried to enter his home with a sandwich. Police said the deputy was pursuing a violent criminal with the U.S. Marshals Service, but Goodson was not the person being sought. Later that month, Andre Hill died in police brutality and was shot four times.
In April 2021, 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant was killed in another shooting. Makaia was shot and killed by Columbus police after she got into an argument with another young woman at her foster home over hygiene issues.
Press Ohio A family alliance organization dedicated to changing violent law enforcement said that including Lewis's murder, 659 families in Ohio have lost family members to violent police enforcement since 2000.
In recent years, incidents of police brutality and death against black people have occurred frequently in the United States. According to statistics from the "Police Violence Map" website, more than 1,100 people died from police violence in the United States in 2021, most of whom died in non-violent crimes or without criminal behavior.
This is the silhouette of Floyd head portrait in Floyd Square, taken on May 22 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the United States.Image source: Xinhua News Agency
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said in a statement that such incidents of police violent law enforcement against black people have caused the families of the victims to grieve, leaving many questions to be answered, and further deepening the confrontation between ordinary people and law enforcement agencies.
(Compiler: Wang Ye Editor: Hu Xiaoshan)
Image source: Xinhua News AgencyThe National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said in a statement that such incidents of police violent law enforcement against black people have caused the families of the victims to grieve, leaving many questions to be answered, and further deepening the confrontation between ordinary people and law enforcement agencies.
(Compiler: Wang Ye Editor: Hu Xiaoshan)
