[Peace] [PeoplesPotluck] And the FOP's response to Norbits'suspension

[Marti Wilkinson]

Norbits lost his conscious when he involved himself in the beating death of
Greg Brown, a developmentally disabled individual. According to what I read
Norbits had 'subdued' Brown with his baton and Brown later died from his
injuries. The city admitted guilt in the form of a civil lawsuit filed by
Browns family. As a resident of Champaign I attended the recent session that
the city held at Hawthorne suites and a student from Central High asked "Why
did some kid have to die before we could have this conversation" and that
reflects the impact that young Kiwanes death has had on the community.

In reading some of the comments made on the NG website it really
disappointing to me to see people act like Kiwane would be alive if he had
just done what he was told. I can't help but wonder what kind of heart or
compassion that people have to say such a thing. Would this have happened if
two white kids had been trying to get in a house over in Cherry Hills? I
doubt it.

I think it's also important to consider that Champaign takes many of it's
cultural cues from the University of Illinois.  Just look at the amount of
worship that students and residents fawn upon the minstrel show that used to
be the mascot. The News-Gazette published an entire book devoted to the
former mascot and continues to perpetuate the social injustices that are in
town. Even now the U of I does nothing to counteract the pro-mascot rallys
and Assembly Hall dances that take place. I could say more, but it's been a
long day and I'm beat.

Marti


On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 3:45 PM, <j4tado at gmail.com> wrote:

> I am new to this discussion group, but I like to pay attention to abuse of
> power in all of its forms.
>
> It seems Champaign is merely like any other city w/ a diverse population:
> we have a sizable minority, they are concentrated largely on one side of
> town, that side is largely poor or "lower-middle" class, and the police have
> an adversarial relationship to them. Not to mention an ignorant, reactionary
> mayor.
>
> Looking specifically at the issue of police training, or SOP, and the issue
> of our police carrying the ubiquitous Glock semi-auto pistol, it seems that
> Officer Norbits did not follow procedure when pointing his weapon. I was
> part of a firearms safety/training program held by the U of I Police several
> years ago, and they showed us the proper way to hold a firearm, and in
> particular a handgun, was to keep the trigger finger held out straight and
> off of the trigger unless we were absolutely ready to fire. The Glock
> doesn't have an external safety, however, it has a small lever in the middle
> of the trigger that has to be depressed before the trigger itself can be
> squeezed. Officer Norbits clearly had his finger wrapped around the whole
> trigger, which by procedure is ready to fire. He obviously had the muzzle
> trained on Mr. Carrington, because the bullet ended up in his heart. Gun
> aimed at "center mass", finger on the trigger, does not sound like an
> accident. Norbits should be fir
>  ed on the basis of negligent homicide.
>
> And why doesn't he (Norbits) resign? He killed an unarmed kid. Where is his
> conscience? Years ago, back in the 80's, there was a Champaign detective,
> can't remember his name, who shot and killed an armed man who had shot at
> officers when they went to arrest him. That detective resigned himself from
> the force. He had been cleared of any wrong doing. He clearly had the right
> to shoot when being shot at. Why did he quit being a cop? Apparently he had
> a hard time dealing with it in his mind. One should question if a cop should
> remain on a job where they might do it again. Champaign will be synonymous
> w/ New York City and other cities in having a cop being allowed to rejoin
> the force after gunning down unarmed, innocent civilians. Does anyone feel
> particularly safe w/ that cop working the beat? What side of town will he be
> patrolling?
>
> Another thing to consider, in New York, it was discovered that the Glocks
> used to kill Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell were modified. This made the
> triggers ultra sensitive, enabling the officers to squeeze a trigger more
> rapidly, thus being able to empty a 16 shot clip in 4 seconds. I wonder how
> our officers weapons are set up. Do we have officers patrolling with hair
> triggers?
>
> Sounds like the CPD is a perpetual work in progress. Over the last two
> decades, a number of unarmed civilians have been killed by Champaign police
> when they should have been simply taken into custody. Whether it was the
> techniques used to restrain them, or use of firearms, the CPD is very slow
> to learn how to avoid this kind of tragedy. There is an element of danger
> out here, yes. Sometimes, the police might have to respond in a way that
> requires force. True. But what happened to Kiwane Carrington and others is
> entirely avoidable.
>
> Thanks for taking the time to read this.
>
> Justus Fortado
>
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jenifer Cartwright <jencart13 at yahoo.com>
> Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:50:18
> To: Court Watch<announce at communitycourtwatch.org>; AWARE peace<
> peace at lists.chambana.net>; <stop at iresist.org>; <coalition at iresist.org>; <
> peoplespotluck at lists.chambana.net>; Brian Dolinar<briandolinar at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [PeoplesPotluck] [Peace] And the FOP's response to Norbits'
>        suspension
>
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