wsj.com Opinion | The Riots in Philadelphia
The Editorial Board
Police charge at a crowd along 52nd Street in West Philadelphia on Oct. 27. Photo: Tim Tai/Associated Press
Philadelphia has become the latest American city where rioting followed the fatal shooting of a black man by police. Demonstrators say they want justice, but this week’s mayhem won’t achieve that.
The circumstances surrounding Monday’s shooting are complicated. Anthony Fitzhugh, a cousin of the deceased, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that a family member called for help because 27-year-old Walter Wallace Jr., who suffered from bipolar disorder, was having a mental episode.
Officers had already responded to Wallace’s house twice on Monday, the Inquirer reports. Video recorded by a witness shows Wallace rapidly approaching officers, who backed away and repeatedly told him to “put the knife down.” After several warnings, the police fired at Wallace and killed him.
Predictably, demonstrations broke out Monday night and took a violent turn. Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw reported that a police sergeant was hospitalized with a broken leg after she was “intentionally run over” by someone driving a pickup truck. Rioters threw stones and bricks, and some 30 officers sustained injuries. The agitators looted businesses, and officers arrested 91 people, including three for assaulting police and 76 for burglary.
On Tuesday, Mayor Jim Kenney and Commissioner Outlaw said the police department is investigating the shooting. Unlikely to be investigated, though, are the policy decisions Philadelphia has made recently about the role of the city’s police.
After unrest this summer, the City Council reduced police funding by more than $33 million. Later this week the council is expected to vote on a bill that would permanently ban tear gas, pepper spray and other less-than-lethal weapons during protests.
Philadelphia’s progressive district attorney Larry Krasner has claimed that “policing and prosecution are both systemically racist.” But the inevitable consequence of the policy decisions now being made by Philadelphia’s political leadership is less equipment and training for the city’s police officers. The result is likely to be more tragedies like the one engulfing the city of brotherly love this week. |
