Extended Practice Research: The Washington Post: Thousands dead, few Prosecuted

The Washington Post: Thousands dead, few Prosecuted

• Among thousands of fatal shootings by police officers since 2005, only 54 have been charged.
• An overwhelming majority of cases where an officer was charged, the person killed was unarmed.
• When prosecutors pressed charges, there were typically factors that made the case exceptional including...
• Victim was shot in the back
• Incident was recorded on video
• Incriminating testimony from other officers
• Allegations of a cover-up
• Phillip M. Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green who studies arrests of police:
• "To charge an officer in a fatal shooting it takes something so egregious, so over the top that it cannot be explained in any rational way."
• "Has to be a case that prosecutors are willing to hang their reputation on." 

• Most officers whose cases have been resolved have not been convicted.
• When officers have been convicted or plead guilty, they are often given little time behind bars.
• Jurors are very reluctant to punish police officers, they view them as guardians of order.
• The FBI maintains a national database of fatal shootings by officers but does not require police departments to keep it updated.

Case Study: Jay Morningstar

• In April 2005, Detroit police were called to a bar after Eric Williams, a homeless man known to them became aggressive.
• Jay Morningstar noticed Williams and stopped.
• Morningstar got out of his vehicle, Williams approached.
• Detroit prosecutor's office, believing he was not in fear of his life at the moment he fired the shot, charged Morningstar with second-degree murder and manslaughter.
• After a six week trial, Morningstar was acquitted on all charges.
• Morningstar returned to active duty within the Michigan State Police immediately after the trial and remains in its service.

Tawana Williams: Sister of Eric Williams

• "When you get a phone call from 911 that a homeless man's in the middle of the street with his pants down, I don't feel you have to approach that situation and put your hands on a pistol, that is a hostile situation."
• "You open his hand and all my brother had was a rolled up one dollar bill in his hand. My brother did not deserve to lose his life to state police."
• "And at the end of the day, we have to respect the law, that's what it's there for."

Jay Morningstar: Michigan State Trooper

• "I saw the man stand there and he was I'd describe fronting like he had a weapon. There was a man on the ground, he had his hand up, and he was standing over him. And his hand was inside, his other hand was out."
• "As soon as I fired that shot I knew the threat was stopped and I saw him stagger and I holstered my weapon and I just grabbed his arm, his shoulder was facing me still and I pushed him down on the hood of the petrol car. And I immediately reached in there and grabbed his hand and ripped it out.  And I'll never forget this, in his hand was a dollar bill, it was crumpled over, just there. And that was the first conscious thought that I can recall thinking that why am I not pulling out a weapon, you know, what's going on?"
• "You know, my greatest fear as a human being has always been to be incarcerated. As I was driving home, I couldn't help all these other things I'd seen in the back of my mind and I was thinking to myself you know what if they don't believe me? Sure enough the next day, the media had grabbed onto this and these comments were being made, it was just incredible what was happening."
• "If I could have known he didn't have a weapon absolutely, but otherwise all you can do if you don't know is you can just stand there and let it happen. And that's contrary to all the training you receive."
• "I don't feel good about this shooting. It's transformed my life, and as strong as I am I still suffer from effects of it you know. And that can't relate to a lot of people that I work with you know. And I do help people and can use my experience in a beneficial way yes, but in the same token I can't go back to where I was." 

This case study was incredibly insightful and useful for me with developing the characters I am trying to portray. Morningstar's actions in the line of duty were perhaps wrong, he in my opinion acted wrongfully, yet I feel he is not a bad person. He evidently feels guilt for his actions and I believe that when the incident occurred he did not intend to kill anyone, I feel he acted with his reflexes and gut instinct but in this case his gut instinct was wrong. The character of Cop in my animation I do not want to portray as a villain. 

The real world is not that black and white. Similar to Morningstar's case, the fictional cop in my animation shoots dead someone who is unarmed, he perhaps (and in the narrative of my animation, most likely) did it wrongfully. Similar to this real case my character is terrified of being incarcerated and does get found out yet is let off. My Cop is not a bad person but has done a bad thing yet I wanted to portray him as as real as possible so he has to experience feelings of guilt and the event has to haunt him in some way. 

That is why in my animation, following the shooting Cop drinks alcoholically and ends up getting rid of his guns after having a very close attachment to them. I feel that in order for my animation to successfully portray realistic characters, I need to research people like Morningstar who have had similar events happen to them in their lives.