Shopper Dies at the Hands of Security Guards.
A man, shopping with his family, was killed, when he was involved in a struggle with security guards, from a local mall.

Apparently, the problem arose, when, as news reports told it, an 11 year old girl, either his niece, daughter, or his girlfriend's daughter, walked out of a Lord and Taylor store, without paying for a necklace, or bracelet, that cost $4.00.

As I understand it, several other people were with the group, in the mall, supposedly shopping, and trying on different things, when, the girl, either deliberately, or accidentally walked out of the store, without paying for it.

Some reports, have it that the group was actually in the store, to shoplift.

Well, anyway, the guards, followed them out to the parking lot, and here is where things get sketchy, so I am only stating, the gist of what happened.

In the parking lot, the guards attempted to bring the girl back in to the store. I am presuming that they approached the grownups to let them know what they wanted to do.

It is unclear whether they attempted to put handcuffs on her, or what. Any way, supposedly they offered to pay for the bracelet, but the guards would not hear it.

From there, a scuffle ensued. How many guards, were involved, I don't know, but, it ended with the man, being choked to death.

This, is a tragic result of a situation, that got totally out of control. A man is dead, all because of a $4.00 bracelet.

Whether the girl stole it, or just forgot to pay for it, it was not worth his life. But it happened.

What happened here, is pretty much the same thing that happened quite a few years back, to a man by the name of Malice Green.

In that case, he lost his life, in a struggle with police, after they ordered him to open his hands, because they thought he had some drugs in it. He refused to comply, and he died.

Some time before that, another man, was nearly beaten to death, after he, refused to do what police told him to do. The case of Rodney King, made national, and possibly international headlines, and was caught on tape.

A nation, and the president, were outraged.

In the King, and Green incidents, it was white police, beating a black man. In both of those cases, the NAACP, and black leaders all over, were screaming racism.

In this case however, they were silent. It appears that the guards were black, so the racism ploy, won't work. The mall, is managed by a black woman, so this effectively knocks the racism bit, out the window.

However, I suppose they will try something, to make it appear that they are still standing up for the black community, against those that have the wealth.

But, the thing I see, is this. In all three cases, things got out of hand, when they, refused to follow the orders of those that were hired to enforce the law. In effect, each of these cases, would not have ended the way they did, if only the people had obeyed the officers, even though, in this last case, the officers were, what is commonly known as 'rent a cops.'

We, in the black community, tend to feel that police and security guards, are to be challenged, any time they stop one of us.

We feel that if they stop us, especially if the officer is white, that somehow, it is a racist plot, or a new term that has been put forth in the last few years, called 'racial profiling.'

In any case, I blame the victims for their own injury, and death.

When I was a child, one thing I had instilled in my head, was, if a police officer tells me to do something, then I had better do it, whether I agreed with it or not. I could always complain about them later.

When I was in law enforcement, I was trained on what to do, if I met with resistance to a command to halt, or put your hands up. My job was to avoid physical contact with the individual, as much as possible. If they challenged me, I was to meet force with force.

Today, we seem to forget that these officers, and guards, have lives, and families, and if they feel threatened, they have all the right to do what is necessary, to protect themselves.

The fact that someone had to lose their lives, is tragic, but that's the result of rebellion. Some time, the lessons are harder than we feel they should be, but, there is a price to pay for it.

I have a feeling that there is more to the story than what I have heard, I will follow it up, in the next newsletter.

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JUNE, 2000


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