Neighborhood Creates Petition To Defend Residents From Police
On November 17, 2019, Shawanda Brookshire was confronted by West Memphis, Arkansas law enforcement officials within the car parking zone of a LaQuinta Resort simply hours after she noticed her daughter’s physique for the primary time at an area funeral dwelling.
In keeping with Fox 13, the police, who had been patrolling the world after plenty of reported break-ins, stopped Brookshire to verify she was a visitor on the resort. After offering a room key, authorities requested for the lady’s identification, which she reportedly left in her room.
Brookshire, who was grieving the lack of her daughter needed to be left alone and commenced yelling on the officers whereas calling her mom to carry out her id.
In keeping with Fox 13, Brookshire reportedly continued to scream on the officers as they struggled to handcuff her till she was on the bottom.
As her household approached, they noticed her on the bottom and commenced yelling on the officers, one officer pulled out his Taser and informed them to cease. Brookshire was then positioned within the patrol automobile, Fox 13 studies.
A supervising officer arrived on the scene, and members of the family defined how Brookshire had misplaced her Four-year-old daughter, Nia, in a automobile accident and so they had been on the town serving to to make closing preparations to put the little lady to relaxation.
Now, a petition has been began to guard the West Memphis from police violence. The petition, began by Richard Brookshire through Manage For, is demanding:
“1. A full investigation into the assault of Shawnda Brookshire by West Memphis PD officers
2. A public apology issued by the offending officers to Shawnda Brookshire and her household
three. Commensurate disciplinary motion by the West Memphis PD for the offense, as much as and together with the removing of the offending officers’ badge(s)
Four. The addition of “extreme use of pressure” onto the offending officers’ file(s).”
The petition additionally cites the demographic make-up of West Memphis, which they declare will increase the likeliness of “dangerous interactions with regulation enforcement.”
“The town of West Memphis, Arkansas, is 61.Four% Black, and Black folks represent 2 out of 5 of West Memphis residents residing under the poverty line. These socioeconomic components enhance the probability of dangerous interactions with regulation enforcement, which in flip reinforce the social and financial disenfranchisement–and consequently, the dehumanization– of poor Black households.
“We demand accountability from the West Memphis PD,” the petition concludes. “Shawnda deserves justice.”
To view the petition, click on right here.