C. Wright Mills states, “Perhaps the most fruitful distinction with which the sociological imagination works is between ‘the personal troubles of milieu’ and ‘the public issues of social structure.” (Mills 1959) This distinction is important in order to study to improve upon society. If many men are suffering the same troubles it becomes a public issue. This is the case when talking about the killings of black men by police officers. Black males are killed at a rate of 1 in 1000 by police officers. This is 2.5 times higher than white males. Many of these men are unarmed and some have not even violated the law.
I wondered if there were similarities among these fatal incidents. To investigate, I compare the cases of three victims who were unarmed when they were killed in 2014.
Tamir Rice
His Story:
Tamir Rice was born in 2002 in Cleveland, Ohio to Samaria Rice and Leonard Warner. He had an older brother and an older sister. Tamir was 12 years old at the time of the killing. He was 5’7 and 200 pounds. He attended sixth grade at Marion-Seltzer Elementary where he loved art and playing sports. His teachers described him as a pleasant young boy. He spent a lot of time at recreational centers playing football, basketball, swimming, and soccer. He also enjoyed playing video games and watching cartoons (Daudi 2020).
The scene:
Tamir Rice died on November 22, 2014 at just 12 years old. He was walking through a neighborhood park with a black Airsoft pellet gun. This is a harmless toy gun. Another person in the park called 911, concerned that it was a real gun. The police officers who responded to the call were Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback. Neither officer was informed the gun might not be real. The officers failed to report when they arrived on scene. The police car sped into the park and stopped. Tamir Rice was only ten feet away. Within seconds of the car stopping, Loehmann opened the passenger door and shot Tamir Rice twice. After shooting the boy, no first aid was administered by the officers. After shooting Tamir, the officers restrained Rice’s 14-year-old sister by tackling her to the ground. Allegedly, Loehmann claims to have ordered the boy to drop the gun, but he did not follow the orders. This could not be proven. Tamir Rice died the following day. The shooting went to trial where a judge did not convict either officer involved of committing any criminal activity (Daudi 2020).
The officers:
Frank Garmback was 46 at the time of the shooting and had been on the Cleveland police force for 6 years prior to the incident. He received a five-day suspension for not informing dispatch that the officers had arrived on the scene. In his interview following the incident, Frank Garmback was extremely emotional and showed great remorse. He stated that Loehmann had told the kid to show his hand multiple times, that the kid said nothing in response to the officers and seemed to reach for his gun (PBS).
Timothy Loehmann was a 26-year-old rookie on the Cleveland police force at the time of the shooting. He completed his training in the academy in Independence, Ohio in 2012. One month after completing his training he resigned. It was reported that had he not resigned he would have been terminated due to emotional instability and sudden loss of composure. After the shooting, it was discovered that the Cleveland Police never reviewed Loehmann’s personal record upon hiring him which showed his history of emotional instability. Following the incident, Loehmann was fired from the Cleveland Police department. In his interview following the incident, Loehmann stated that he followed procedure telling Rice to show his hands and that he saw the kid reach for a gun. He decided that he was in too much danger, and said he had to make a decision which was to fire. He showed no remorse (PBS).
Eric Garner
His Story:
Eric Garner was born in New York City on September 15, 1970. At the time of his death he was 44 years old, 6 feet 3 inches, and weighed 350 pounds. He was married to his wife, Esaw Garner, for over twenty years. They had six children. He was a mechanic and worked in the horticulture department. However, due to health complications he had to stop working. Within his community he was known to be a peace-maker. He had over 30 arrests for low level crimes such as driving without a license, possession of marijuana, and selling untaxed cigarettes. In 2007 Garner filed a complaint against the NYPD for harassment (Daudi 2019).
The Scene:
Garner was in Tompkinsville Staten Island on July 17th, 2014. He was on a busy street when he saw a fight break out and proceeded to break it up. Soon after, the NYPD arrived. They proceeded to accuse Garner of selling untaxed cigarettes. Several officers surrounded him. Garner, who was unarmed, became verbally agitated saying “I’m tired of it. This stops today.” After he became verbally agitated, Daniel Pantaleo put Garner in a chokehold which had been banned in 1993. Garner who suffered from asthma repeatedly said “I can’t breathe,” as he was shoved face first into the ground. He soon lost consciousness and the officers turned him on his side to ease breathing. The EMTs were called and arrived several minutes after Garner lost consciousness. Garner was not placed on oxygen or any other medical treatment. The video of the incident shows a slow response time of the EMTs. Garner had a heart attack on the way to Richmond University Hospital and died. The Medical coroner determined that the heart attack was caused by a lack of oxygen entering the body from Garner being placed in a chokehold, making his death a homicide (Daudi 2019).
The officer:
Daniel Pantaleo was 29 years old at the time of the killing of Eric Garner. He had been on the police force for 8 years. In 2013 he had two lawsuits filed against him for falsely arresting and abusing two black men. Following the Garner incident, he was suspended for a month and brought to testify in front of a grand jury. The judge decided to not indict him, and Pantaleo was then placed on desk duty. He was terminated from the Police department five years later in August 2019. Pantaleo showed remorse for the killing of Garner saying his only intentions were to defend the law and did not intend on harming anyone (Chan 2019).
Michael Brown
His Story:
Michael Brown Jr. was born to Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr. in Florissant Missouri on May 20, 1996. His parents separated when he was a child. Michael Brown was 18 at the time of his death, 6 feet and 4 inches, and 292 pounds. He attended many different schools and graduated in 2014 from an alternative education school. Brown planned to attend Vatterott College after he graduated, where he was to study heat and air conditioning. Brown enjoyed making videos of himself singing rap music. He posted the videos on sound cloud under the name “Big Mike” (Daudi 2019).
The Scene:
On the morning of August 9, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, Michael Brown was caught on camera stealing a pack of cigars from a convenience store. Soon after, him and a friend were stopped on the sidewalk by police officer, Darren Wilson, who ordered them to stop. He suspected them to be involved in the robbery because they fit the description. Brown and Wilson had an altercation that led to Wilson firing twice from inside his police car. At that time, Brown started to run. Wilson followed him on foot. When Brown stopped and turned, Wilson shot him several more times. Brown was unarmed. There are many conflicting stories of what happened. Some say Brown charged at Wilson, while others say he did not move at all. Some bystanders say that at the time Wilson fired his gun, Brown had his hands in the air as the officer had ordered. Overall, the officer fired 12 times at Brown. Brown was fatally wounded (Daudi 2019).
The officer:
Darren Wilson was 28 at the time of the shooting. He started working as a police officer in 2009. He began working in Ferguson in October 2011 and in February of 2013 won a commendation award from the Ferguson Police department. He previously worked for a police department in Jennings Missouri that was shut down due to excessive tension and altercations between white officers and black men and every officer was fired. Wilson’s chief described him as a quiet and kind man. Wilson stated that Brown was violent throughout the situation which led him to believe he was in danger. He was not convicted of any criminal activity in the Brown shooting and voluntarily resigned from the Ferguson Police Department after the court ruled not to indict him (Times 2014).
The Similarities
The Victims Physical Profile:
All three of the victims were relatively large men. Tamir Rice was the smallest at 5 feet 7 inches and just 12 years old (Daudi 2020). In their interviews, the cops state they could not tell he was a child. This is most likely due to his size. Eric Garner and Michael Brown both towered over 6 feet and weighed 300 pounds (Daudi 2019). The victims were quite large and visually may have posed an unreal threat based just on their size.
The Age of The Officers:
All of the officers were less than 30 years old and had 6 years of experience or less. This indicates that they were not the most experienced officers as they had not been in the field for very long. They may have lacked experience that older officers would have possibly affecting their decision making in tense situations such as those described above. Their age also shows that they may not have as much life experience as some older officers. Loehmann was even reported as being immature. The young officers may have lacked life experience that older officers may have.
Previous Officer Misconduct:
Each police officer had previously had some form of unacceptable conduct in the work force. Loehmann was determined to be immature and would lose his composure easily. This was on his record. However, the Cleveland Police department did not perform a thorough background check on him (PBS). Panteleo had two lawsuits previously filed against him for possible abuse and racism (Chan 2019). Wilson was part of a police department that was terminated due to racial tension. All three officers that were responsible for the fatalities of the three men had previous conducts that went against what police officers are designed to represent, the protection of citizens.
Lackluster Medical Attention:
The medical attention in the Garner and Rice situations was delayed and/or lacking. Brown was dead upon arrival of any medical attention (Daudi 2019). For Rice, no medical life saving efforts were given by the officers involved in the shooting. No medical attention was given to Rice until several minutes later when back up officers arrived and started to perform medical life saving efforts. Then EMTs arrived and took over (Daudi 2020). Those minutes where no medical attention was given were critical to the survival of Rice and if attention was given, he would have had a greater chance at surviving. For the case of Garner, when medical attention arrived, no oxygen was administered, and it is reported that there was no sense of urgency to transport Garner. On the way to the hospital he had a heart attack (Daudi 2019). Had more aggressive medical attention been given; he would have had a greater chance at surviving.
Citations:
Abe, Daudi. “Eric Garner (1970–2014).” Welcome to Blackpast •, 8 Aug. 2019, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/garner-eric-1970-2014/.
Abe, Daudi. “Michael Brown Jr. (1996-2014).” Welcome to Blackpast •, 30 Dec. 2019, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/brown-jr-michael-1996-2014/.
Abe, Daudi. “Tamir Elijah Rice (2002–2014).” Welcome to Blackpast •, 6 Feb. 2020, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/rice-tamir-elijah-2002-2014/.
Chan, Melissa. “Eric Garner Case: What to Know About Daniel Pantaleo’s Firing.” Time, Time, 19 Aug. 2019, time.com/5642648/eric-garner-death-daniel-pantaleo-suspended/.
“Tamir Rice.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/tamir-rice.
“What Happened in Ferguson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Aug. 2014, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html.
Mills, C. W. (1959). The sociological imagination. New York: Oxford University Press
