A Black Woman Was Shot Dead By Police—Where's the National Outcry?

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http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/black-woman-was-shot-dead-police-wheres-national-outcry


Photo Credit: selfie of Aura Rosser (left) and Shae Ward

The day before Aura Rosser was shot and killed by Officer David Reid of the Ann Arbor Police Department back in November, she was on the phone making plans for the holidays with her sister, Shae Ward.

They were considering cruise destinations far away from the frigid cold Michigan weather that was bound to arrive in December: Florida Keys, the Bahamas, anywhere south. They communicated throughout the day on social media, but that phone call was the last time Ward heard Rosser’s voice.

The next day, officer David Reid and his partner, Mark Raab, responded to a domestic disturbance call around 11:45 p.m. at the home of Aura Rosser and her boyfriend Victor Stephens in Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan and liberal bastion about an hour from of Detroit. What happened after the officers arrived is unclear.

What we do know is that Rosser, 40, was at the home with her boyfriend, Victor Stephens, 54. He has said they were in a heated argument when he made the call, according to local reports. He called the cops, he says, to escort Rosser out of his home. When officers arrived on the scene, they claim, Rosser "confronted" them with a knife. Officer Reid shot Rosser, killing her. Michigan State Police say Rosser was shot once but declined to say where. Stephens has said she was shot twice; once in the head and once in the chest. It was hardly the outcome he had expected when he phoned the police for help. "Why would you kill her?" Stephens said to local news outlet MLive a day after the shooting. "It was a woman with a knife. It doesn't make any sense."

[riqster]

1. Well, then, let's get the outrage started.

I shall spread the word. Thanks for posting.

[Turbineguy]

2. Somehow the very arrival of the police

escalates things to where the only answer seems to be to shoot people.

Pressed uniforms festooned with guns and gadgets intended to intimidate and subdue appear to have to the opposite effect.

[Oklahoma_Liberal]

3. Why did they have to double tap execute this woman?

Once in the chest once in the head. Sickening. Why couldn't they have shot her in the hand to drop the knife?

[Schema Thing]

4. enjoy your stay, troll

[ncjustice80]

6. EXACTLY.

They didnt do it b/c like Darren Wilson they are racist shit stains out to kill black people.

[treestar]

5. I only just heard of it

Give us a chance, geez.

[geek tragedy]

7. Let's reverse the genders and see if the incident seems as outrageous.

Woman calls police to escort her boyfriend out of her home. Her boyfriend is wielding a knife. (it appears from this story that everyone agrees she was holding a knife when shot).

There's a confrontation with the cops and the cops shoot the boyfriend.

"It was a man with a knife. It doesn't make any sense."

It is certainly possible that this was a bad shooting. There should be a credible (i.e. civilian, external) investigation.

But, when you have close quarters and a potentially deadly weapon in the hand of the person who got shot, we at this point don't have enough information to determine whether they actually acted in self-defense or went Rambo.

We should not assume that a "woman with a knife" is less dangerous than a "man with a knife."

[LittleBlue]

8. Possibly because she confronted them with knife

A domestic disturbance, where one partner called for help, and the other partner had a knife. And the other partner "confronted" the cops with a knife.

I can see why there is no outcry. She was armed.