Protestors: Justice for police brutality victims
11th June 2018 · 0 Comments
Cries for justice filled the air last week as residents, activists and justice advocates joined the families of Alton Sterling, Keeven Robinson and Armond “Jairon” Brown in demanding that the law enforcement officers responsible for these individuals’ deaths are held accountable by the criminal justice system.
Last week’s efforts included a peaceful sit-in at Thursday’s Kenner City Council Meeting during which family members wore T-shirts bearing the faces of the loved ones they lost in officer-involved deaths.
“Our lives are destroyed,” Alton Sterling’s aunt, Veda Washting-Abusaleh, told WWL News. “And we still have no justice… [T]hey still say that the police did nothing wrong.”
Sterling, 37, was killed in Baton Rouge on July 5, 2016 by two police officers while selling mixtape CDs outside a convenience store. The U.S. Department of Justice and the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office have both refused to file charges agains the two officers. However, one of the officers, Blane Salamoni, was fired by the Baton Rouge Police Department after firing six shots into Sterling at point-blank range.
Brown, who suffered from mental illness, was killed by Kenner police at his father’s home last January.
“Jairon was just ripped off the face of the earth by Kenner police,” the victim’s aunt, Jacqueline Brown-Cockerham, told WWL News. “And we’re not good with that because somebody needs to be held accountable.”
“It needs to stop,” Gaylor Spiller, president of the Jefferson Parish Branch of the NAACP, told WWL News last week. “We need to come together and work together and make this whole world a better world to live in for everybody because we all are human beings.”
The family of Keeven Robinson, who was killed in JPSO custody last month, wants to see the deputies involved fired. Relatives rallied Thursday outside the sheriff’s office headquarters in Harvey.
Holding handmade signs and wearing T-shirts in memory of Keeven Robinson, friends and family members of the 22-year-old demanded answers.
“This is a pattern that’s happening all across the country,” family friend John Henderson said.
Just three days before Mother’s Day, Robinson died after an encounter with two Jefferson Parish narcotics detectives in Shrewsbury. Investigators say the detectives were conducting an undercover drug investigation when they attempted to stop Robinson. He fled and a chase ensued. When they caught up to Robinson, they struggled with him, and he died.
“Our initial autopsy findings, and I’m going to be brief, reveal significant traumatic injuries to the neck,” Jefferson Parish Coroner Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich said.
Robinson died of asphyxiation. His death was ruled a homicide. The deputies involved are currently on administrative duty.
“If the shoe would’ve been on the other foot, he would have been in jail. So I want these officers arrested. That’s what I’m out here for — justice,” said Robinson’s aunt, Leslie Moran.
The sheriff’s office says the investigation into Robinson’s death continues, which is why the detectives remain on the force but off the streets. For Robinson’s family, they say their pain won’t go away until someone is held responsible.
“Twenty-two years old. I would’ve rather gone to visit him in jail than the graveyard. Enough is enough,” Robinson’s grandmother, Sheryl, told FOX 8 News.
Both the Louisiana State Police and the FBI are assisting the sheriff’s office with the investigation into Robinson’s death. The family says they’d like to see a separate investigation by an outside agency.
This article originally published in the June 11, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
