{UAH} Police Fatally Shoot Autistic Child, Have Audacity To Claim Self Defense
Two police officers, both men of color, were charged with second-degree murder of a white child with autism in Louisiana in 2015.
Norris Greenhouse, Jr., 24, and Lt. Derrick Stafford, 32, of the Marksville, Louisiana police department, have been charged in the death of Jeremy Mardis, 6.
The officers are being tried separately, months apart, and are both pleading self-defense. Their attorneys are still hoping for dismissal of the case, claiming the officers were acting within the scope of the law by firing into the car that was backing up towards the officers.
18 rounds were fired into the vehicle of Christopher Few, although his hands were raised in the air, and he had no weapon. Few survived the gunshots, but his son Jeremy Mardis was pronounced dead at the scene.
Because Few was backing his car toward the officers, attorneys representing Lt.Stafford say his indictments for second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder should be dropped because he was in fear for his life.
"A review of the indictment by the court would show that the state does not state any allegations of fact that would satisfy the essential element of specific intent for the offenses charged whereby trier of fact could support a conviction," Lt.Stafford's attorneys wrote in a court document.
At first, this case seems like it could be a shining example of systematic racism. Officers of color are being charged with murder when white cops have been going free at an alarming rate. The racism of this case seems obvious - officers of color in Louisiana will face charges when their victim is a white child.
However, no one wants to be the voice speaking in defense of Lt. Stafford. Stafford was charged with raping two girls in 2011. The charges of both these cases were dropped.
This is the state of American Policing. Acquitted rapists can become cops. Killing black children mean a vacation for white cops but it means something different if that cop is black and if that child is white
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