Racial tensions in the nation are at heights that have not been seen in decades. Be it North or South, hatred knows no barriers, with the point being brought home recently by none other than those tasked with protecting the masses. Officers of the law have long been at odds with members of minority communities, usually due to them using less than altruistic means to brandish their own form of cowboy-esque law enforcement procedures reminiscent of their predecessors from a bygone era.
Even still, racially motivated incidents from within their ranks are often never reported, creating a public front that would have a gullible citizenry believe that the only color police officers car about is blue emblazoned with a smidgeon of gold. In spite of that effort, recent activities have exhibited otherwise, as a racially charged case of cop-on-cop violence has ended with the scales of justice seemingly tipped in the favor of the melanin deficient aggressor.
On May 28th, Officer Omar Edwards was shot and killed while pursuing a man that he believed was responsible for breaking into his car. His murderer, Andrew Dunton, was none other than a fellow “brother” in blue. Stories by officers that witnessed the incident say Dunton yelled “Police. Don’t move. Drop the gun. Drop the gun” before opening fire on Edwards. Edwards was off-duty at the time and Dunton was in plain clothes.
Accounts after that detail vary, as a New York grand jury decided to settle on a version that had Edwards make eye contact with Dunton while “pointing” his gun toward him, a move which purportedly prompted the white officer to unleash six shots into the junior officer. The eye contact between the two officers led to the jury’s decision that will see no criminal action taken against officer Dunton, giving better incite into their decision that they deemed no criminal wrongdoing was committed.
The decision made in regard to the four-year NYPD vet came as less than shocking to members of the Black community, with Marquez Claxton of the Black Law Enforcement Alliance choosing to publicly decry its often too common similarity to other polarized, racially induced incidents.
“Well, first and foremost, it disturbingly predictable,” said Marquez to New York’s ABC affiliate. “Once again, we cannot have complete confidence in a process that relies so heavily on a relationship between the police department and the DA offices.”
The decision handed down by the grand jury finally allows for the NYPD to conduct an administrative review of the case, allowing them get Officer Dunton’s account of what happened on that infamous day in May.
Officer Edwards was a 25-year-old newlywed who left behind a wife and two young children.
