'Hunted': one in three people killed by US police were fleeing, data reveals

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/28/hunted-one-in-three-people-killed-by-us-police-were-fleeing-data-reveals

No paywall
https://archive.ph/P8gqX

Nearly one third of people killed by US police since 2015 were running away, driving off or attempting to flee when the officer fatally shot or used lethal force against them, data reveals.

In the past seven years, police in America have killed more than 2,500 people who were fleeing, and those numbers have slightly increased in recent years, amounting to an average of roughly one killing a day of someone running or trying to escape, according to Mapping Police Violence, a research group that tracks lethal force cases.

In many cases, the encounters started as traffic stops, or there were no allegations of violence or serious crimes prompting police contact. Some people were shot in the back while running and others were passengers in fleeing cars.

Two recent cases have sparked national outrage and protests. In Akron, Ohio, on 27 June, officers fired dozens of rounds at Jayland Walker, who was unarmed and running when he was killed. And last week, an officer in San Bernardino, California, exited an unmarked car and immediately fired at Robert Adams as he ran in the opposite direction.

Despite a decades-long push to hold officers accountable for killing civilians, prosecution remains exceedingly rare, the data shows. Of the 2,500 people killed while fleeing since 2015, only 50 or 2% have resulted in criminal charges. The majority of those charges were either dismissed or resulted in acquittals. Only nine officers were convicted, representing 0.35% of cases.

*snip*

[Turbineguy]

1. And if you are black, fleeing seems like a natural thing to do

given how many get shot just sitting in their cars.

If we are going to live in a police state we have to learn what the professional criminals know. That is how not to provoke the police into shooting you.

[Withywindle]

2. K & R

[Calculating]

3. It's like with dogs

Running from them activates their prey drive

[uponit7771]

4. omfg

[Sympthsical]

5. Reddit tore this article apart

Let's just say the study has a very, very loose definition of "fleeing".

If we're going to win the gun control and police reform arguments, we have to do better than putting forth articles with holes you can drive a fleet of UPS trucks through.