Actually, I don't recall reading about a white person being shot by the police because they mistakenly thought he/she was carrying a gun, but maybe that's more common other places. I keep touting the virtues of Fairfax, and that's partly because it's so much better than New Orleans, where I used to live, but the police are extremely well-trained here. Black people do get shot quite a bit by cops in Prince George's County, Maryland, one poor bastard just got shot in the back five times. That is a rogue jurisdiction and the 1983 (civil rights statute) suits are going to bankrupt it before they finally see the light. Most of the killings are black-on-black, the police force is primarily black and the residents are primarily black. Just poor training and over-reaction.
I don't mean to suggest that I am not aware of situations where white people were killed by cops when they should not have been, just that I don't recall one where the cops thought the white victim had a gun but he/she didn't.
One problem, I think, is that fleeing felon laws were declared unconstitutional only recently, and I think the mindset remains that if you disobey the police when they tell you to stop you are subject to execution on the spot. |
