Recent Events of "Police Brutality"

Introduction

What is the issue and why is it ethically important?

“Philando was asked for his license and registration. He stated “I am licensed to carry a weapon” as he was reaching for the items. The officer stated “Don’t move”. As Philando proceeded to put his hands back up, the officer shot him in his arm four/five times”. It may seem like a routine stop, but it is noteworthy that Philando was black and driving at the time he was stopped by officer Yanez. Statistics have shown that there is a relatively high probability for a black person who is driving to be stopped and searched by a police officer. Indeed, in contemporary parlance, the concept of driving while black (DWB) has been introduced as a mock crime. This initial instance is a clear indication of institutionalized racism. Whereas studies have shown clearly that colored people are treated differently from white people during routine stops, nothing has been done to change this operational principle. 

On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile was fatally shot by Jeronimo Yanez, a Minnesota police officer, after Castile was pulled over with his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds. Reynolds live-streamed a video on Facebook in the aftermath of the shooting and one of the most shocking circumstances pertaining to this case was that there were other individuals in the car. Reports clearly confirm that Diamond and her juvenile daughter were in the car as the shots were made. Diamond was in the front seat right next to Philando while her daughter was in the back seat. Anyone experienced with weapon use would know the high risk of a stray or ricocheting bullet hitting any of the two including the juvenile. 

Philando Castile obeyed orders, did not resist and did not make any sudden moves. Excessive force was used against Castile by police officer Yanez. When he was asked for license and registration, Philando immediately informed the police officer that he was armed but was licensed to carry a firearm. Having driven in the area for many years, Philando did not need to know the officer Yanez to know that the routine stop will end in a search or worse. He was already anticipating the search and adverse consequences, hence the early response about having both a gun and a license. The reaction by Yanez vindicates the fear by Castile. The use of excessive force against people of color by law enforcement was clearly a customary issue. Pointing a gun at Philando, let alone firing it several times was acute use of excessive force in the circumstances.

Police brutality is excessive force, usually physical, carried out during law enforcement activities by a police officer’s engaging the civilian population. It is commonly argued that what happened to Philander is a common occurrence in the country. The only difference in the instant case was that Diamond ensured that the matter could not be covered up by the colleagues of Yanez. Indeed, the incident came within a day of the controversial fatal shooting of Alton Sterling. This shows a clear pattern of excessive use of force by law enforcement against people of color. It also confirms blatant breach of ethics on several levels from the supervisory level to the individual police officer level. It is also a confirmation of institutional racism in the police force. 

Relevant Facts: what are the relevant facts?

Police pulled Castile over for a broken tail light and shot Castile to death after he told the officer that he had a firearm and conceal and carry permit. The initial conduct of officer Yanez clearly relates to a traffic stop. However, radio dispatch reports suggest that it was not a routine traffic stop as Yanez had reported a suspicion that Philando was a robber. This should have transformed the scenario into a felony traffic stop where Yanez and his partner should have drawn their guns and ordered the occupants of the vehicle to immediately disembark and lie on the ground. However, Yanez approached the car and ordered for documents as should be done in a normal traffic stop. Either way, this was a clear breach of procedural rules on the part of Yanez and his partner. A normal stop should only lead to a search if a probable cause was established. Philando knew that being black and driving was enough probable cause for a search. Being black and having a gun was enough probable cause for an extra judicial execution. This confirms the concept of institutionalized racism and also creates serious ethical issues on two levels. The first level is the supervisory level. The federal government has provided for extensive supervision for the activities of all police officers. Racial profiling, discrimination and harassment is a well-known concept. The supervisory team under whom Yanez works and who set his operating rules has elected to ignore it. These are clear acts of gross negligence in a sensitive profession and a clear breach of ethics. However, the fact that the custom and operating procedure was common does not justify officer Yanez. The officer must have taken an oath to serve without discrimination and ensure the ends of justice. His racially instigated stop and demand for license and registration with menaces is a clear act of racial discrimination and therefore a breach of ethics on his part. 

Officer Yanez asked Castile for his license and registration. Castile made it aware that he had a pistol and was licensed to carry. The officer yelled “Don’t move” and as Castile was putting his hand back up, he was shot. The officer stated, “I told him not to reach for it! I told him to get his hand open”. This is a second clear confirmation of breach of operating procedure. It is unclear from the foregoing that even the officer Yanez seems delusional and is unsure of which orders he has given. It would be preposterous to ask Philando for his license and registration then expect him not to move. Therefore, the initial civil breach of ethics suddenly becomes criminal conduct when Officer Yanez opens fire at Philando. Yanez is a trained and experienced police officer and this makes him proficient in the handling of a gun. Therefore, it is practically impossible for his gun to go off accidentally. He must have disabled the security latch and primed his gun. This is clearly a show of intent to use force. Further, had it been, Yanez was only a few feet away from Philando. He was in a position to see what Philando was doing and anticipate it. There was, therefore, time for a reactionary move in case he felt threatened perchance if Philando pulled out a gun. However, Philando neither moved suddenly nor disobeyed any orders. He was asked to give his license and registration. Obedience to this order required Philando to in the very least move his hand to try and access the documents ordered for. Instead, his very act of obedience was to be his undoing and the last thing he did alive. This shows a clear set up. Officer Yanez asked Philando to undertake an obligation that would require movement then fatally shot him for moving. The confirmation that the Action by Yanez was not accidental is confirmed be the number of rounds shot, either 4 or 5. He was not using an automatic weapon where a freeze on the trigger could cause several bullets to inadvertently be shot. The weapon used was a hand gun. Therefore, Officer Yanez must have pulled his trigger every time the bullet was shot. This goes beyond the aforesaid breach of ethics. It transforms the death of Philando Castle from simple police misconduct to premeditated murder. 

Castile’s death was ruled as a homicide and that he had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. This is a direct confirmation of the narrative as told by Diamond. A healthy man, traveling in his car with his family is stopped in a routine traffic stop. The conduct of the police at the stop determines whether it is a routine traffic stop or a felony traffic stop. This seemed a routine traffic stop, but 103 seconds later, Philando is shot 4 to 5 times. Within minutes, he is dead. The confirmation by the coroner clearly shows that the death was a direct result of the acts and omission of officer Yanez. Unfortunately, very few law enforcement officers face the full force of the law when such incidents take place. Had the matter not been publicized through social media, proper investigations might have never ensued. Even after the coroner’s report confirmed that Philando’s death was a homicide, Yanez and his partner were simply placed on paid leave. This is an extremely lenient action for individual who are clearly guilty of homicide and the reckless endangerment of a 4 year old girl. It is a clear sign of the institutional racism that has created impunity under which Officer Yanez and his partner operated under. That Officer Yanez still shot 4 to 5 times into the car oblivious of the risk it posed to the two other occupants in the car reeks of extreme negligence, dereliction of duty and reckless endangerment. Finally, even when Yanez realized that Diamond was recording her, his menaces still continued and he is shown to be pointing a gun at the clearly dying Philando and sometimes pointing the gun at Diamond. Yanez never makes any attempt to save Philando. He also orders Diamond not to move so she could not attempt to save him either. Whereas this also amount to ethical breach, it also creates an impression of impunity. Yanez felt confident that nothing would be done about the incident and he was not bothered by the fact that he was being recorded. He may however, not have realized that the recording was also being streamed, this perhaps would have checked his conduct. Had the video not have been streamed live, there is a chance the truth would never have been realized. 

Argument and Counterargument: What is the controversy?

The Philando incident brought to the fore the age old issue of police brutality. Across the nation and indeed the world, people took sides and argued for and against the police. Among the issues canvassed were false arrests, intimidation, racial profiling and breach of privacy. The issue of police corruption was also addressed. Commentators on security and racial issues have intensively debated in this issues. Among the most vocal on the side that highlighted police misconduct included African American TV personality and author Darryl Lynn "D. L." Hughley, former mayor Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani was among the most vocal in defending the police forces. 

There are several recorded reports of racial discrimination and profiling in the criminal justice department in general and the police force in particular. Philando himself is reported to have been apprehended 52 times for traffic violation prior to his death. He had actually become sought of an expert in dealing with the police, hence his plea that he was licensed to carry a gun even before the question was asked. The level of restraint showed by Diamond, even as her boyfriend lay dying beside her, is another confirmation of extensive experience in interaction with the police. African Americans who commented on this issue indicated that they train their children on how to be polite to police officers in anticipation of their numerous encounters with them. This clearly paints a picture of a Police State operating within the so called free world. The average white driver may spend an entire lifetime on the road without a singular traffic stop. A 32 year old Philando Castile had been stopped 52 times. This is a clear sign of racial profiling and institutional racism. Mayor Giuliani attempted to justify this through the argument that it is the criminal character of the black people that leads to the police conduct. Considering that this statement came from a politician of national repute, it evidenced the extremities of institutionalized racism. Research has clearly shown that propensity for criminal conduct among the white community is congruent to that among the black communities. There are however statistical differences between the white individuals arrested and convicted against black individuals arrested and convicted. This however, stem from the fact that white people get away with crimes that most black people are arrested and convicted for. What Mayor Giuliani was referring to was indeed indicting the police and the entire system for institutionalized racism.

Precise moral questions: what is the moral question?

Whereas ethics are a creation of rules and laws, morals emanate from a belief within an individual through which an individual determines what is right and what is wrong. For example, albeit it was officer Yanez who pulled the trigger, within officer Yanez was Yanez the man. When a decision as critical as taking of a life is concerned, it goes beyond the call of duty into asking, what is doing right or wrong? After the shot was taken, even if it were to be assumed that it was an accident, the conduct of Yanez and his partner in arresting Diamond instead of helping Philando who lay bleeding out for 20 minutes goes beyond the issue of ethics. The conduct of Yanez and his colleagues begs the question of what moral compass would such individuals possess? And does this moral compass allow them to be law enforcement officers? In many cases similar to this, police officers are often attempted to shift the blame onto the victim rather than being held accountable for their own actions. This is clearly evidenced by the fact that immediately after the incident, Diamond is apprehended, handcuffed and incarcerated. Chances are, had she not recorded the entire incident, a way would have been found to blame her for Philando’s death. Indeed, in her own testimony, her initial treatment by the police showed that she was a person of interest in the matter. It is only when the police realized that a video of the incident was gaining traction on social media that Diamond was released. When 37 year old Alton Sterling was shot in New Orleans the day before the Philando incident, police claimed that he was selling CDs and threatening people with a gun. Even from face value, the statement is preposterous. It is impossible to conduct business and threaten people with a gun contemporaneously. Initial reports, therefore, blamed Alton for his own death. It is only later, when a video of the incident appeared that the police narrative came into question. The individual who shot the video however, became a victim of police harassment. It is clear from the foregoing that without irrefutable evidence condemning the police, they would never admit guilt. Instead, they will look for a way to blame the victim of an innocent bystander. Unfortunately, in most cases, video evidence is unavailable. It is such cover-ups that have given police apologists such as Giuliani the impetus to point fingers at the African American community as the provoking party, when they are actually the victims. 

All of the facts and arguments

In conclusion, Philando Castile incident was used with police brutality and excessive force. This is just but an example of the unfair treatment meted on the American colored communities. Before the incident, Philando at only 32 years had been stopped 52 times. This creates a clear impression that there are colored individuals who have been stopped for hundreds of times. This is clear evidence of lack of ethics on all levels of the criminal justice system. It shows lack of adherence to ethics by police officers and police departments as well as institutionalized racism. The stop was unjustified ab initio. With or without the shooting, the operational procedures followed were unprofessional. Castile did obey the order that was given by the officer but was fatally shot to dead. This was an escalation of an already unethical and unprofessional conduct. The shooting of Castile was uncalled for and intentional. Indeed, with 4 to 5 bullets fired, it is only by good luck that the 4 year old girl in the backseat was not fatally injured. This is also a reflection of thousands of such incidents that take place around the nation. However, most of these incidences fail to be discovered due to cover ups and biased investigations. In many cases, the police will find scapegoats to blame for the incidences as shown above. Finally, the police can always count on racist senior politicians such as Mayor Giuliani and his ilk to protect them when an occasional cover up failure occurs.