The Case Of The Lying Florida Cops Who Killed A Black Man

Killerss

 

Gold Cross Award winners: Sgt. Richard LaCerra shown with alleged killer cop Peter Peraza, next to Sheriff Scott Israel. Source: Sun Sentinel
 

Did Florida police officers tamper with evidence, and lie under oath, to cover-up the killing in 2013 of a 33-year-old Black man? And are the allegations of a nurse, who contends police refused her attempts to give medical attention to this wounded man, true?

 
Is this case yet another example of the extra-judicial police murder of Black people on America’s streets?
 
These are some of the questions that must now be pondered since the FBI announced that it will be investigating Broward County Sheriff’s Office deputies regarding the events surrounding the 2013 death of Jermaine McBean, a computer programmer from South Florida. 
 
At the behest of the Justice Department, the FBI will be examining evidence to determine if officers violated the civil rights of Mr. McBean, when he was shot as he walked around his apartment complex with a reportedly unloaded Winchester Model 1000 Air Rifle on his shoulder.
 
Several discrepancies in this case have created serious doubts about the shooting and the statements made by deputies in the aftermath of the killing.
 
Officer Peter Peraza, who shot and killed Mr. McBean, claimed McBean ignored several warnings from deputies to drop the air gun. Moreover, Officer Peraza testified there was no reason for McBean to have not heard the commands of police.
However, these claims have been undermined by two eyewitness to the shooting.
 
A nurse, who witnessed the killing and requested anonymity, took a picture showing Mr. McBean wearing ear buds—right after he was shot. This strongly indicates he was probably listening to music when he was shot dead.
Police had not only claimed McBean wasn’t wearing any headphones—but claimed they found the ear buds in McBean’s pocket, after they took him to the hospital.
 
Another witness, 58-year-old Michael Russell McCarthy—who apparently had called 911 when he saw McBean with the air rifle—stated McBean never pointed the air rifle at police and said it would have been impossible for him to fire it given the “position” he was carrying the gun on his shoulders and behind his neck.
 
“He couldn’t have fired that gun from the position he was in. There was no possible way of firing it and at the same time hitting something,” McCarthy said. “I kind of blame myself, because if I hadn’t called it might not have happened.”
 
It has been two years since the killing of McBean, and no charges have been filed—and Officer Peraza was even given an award for bravery for this troubling shooting.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office is also seeking to put a hold on a federal lawsuit being brought by the McBean family who allege a cover-up in this case.
 
And a lawyer for the family, who had requested a review of this case, welcomed the Justice Department’s investigation.
“I’m glad the Justice Department is going to take a look at it because the local authorities have had two years to investigate this case,” said David Schoen.
He also echoed the family’s claim that police were clearly covering up what happened.
 
“They already have seen indisputable evidence of the Broward Sheriff Office’s efforts to cover up what really happened here and believe outside oversight is essential,” Mr. Schoen said. “For almost two years the local prosecutors have had a chance to investigate.”
 
Once again, we are faced with yet another case where cops have killed an innocent Black person and police are again apparently running interference to exonerate their fellow officers. We’ve seen this script before repeatedly since the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner a year ago. 
 
The murder and targeting of Black Americans is not just a problem of “perception,” as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently alluded to, as he announced his decision to allow New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to prosecute police who murder Black people, because of the close ties police have with prosecutors.
 
The empirical evidence illustrates that African-Americans and Black people are the primary targets of prejudiced policing all across America.
How many stories, about unarmed Black men being killed by police, do these wish-washy politicians have to see before they stop talking about there being a “perception” problem between police an African-Americans?
Do we have to remind them of the long list of innocent African-Americans who died at the hands of police from the post-Slavery days, through the Lynching and Civil Rights era, to the present?
 
How dare they insinuate Black America is just imagining the racist attacks and harassment being perpetrated by a racist police structure?
 
Here is something we should keep in mind: it is politicians and White elites, not police, who are the architects of institutional racism in police departments. When Officer Daniel Pantaleo squeezed the life out of Eric Garner it was an extreme consequence of the harass-Black-people quotas that is part of the economic terrorism that is implemented by White political power. 
 
The deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, and so many others, is not just caused by a “few bad apples.”
 
It is caused by those Whites who write police policy like “stop-and-frisk” and “broken windows.”
 
Police policy is framed around keeping Blacks “in their place.” Their political agenda is to castrate Black America’s political aspirations and reduce African Americans to a place of being a permanent underclass. That has always been the agenda of police toward African-Americans—from the days of the Slave patrols and “plantation police.”  
 
This Florida case is yet another example of the disregard police policy has for the lives of Black people.
 
The evidence seems clear these officers, from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, told several serious lies.
Yhey claimed there was no reason for McBean not to hear them telling him to drop the air gun and they claim there was no evidence he was wearing earphones at the time of the shooting. Worse of all, they testified he pointed the air gun at them.
 
However, now that the photo showing McBean wearing ear buds has emerged, we know he was shot, most likely not having heard these officers say anything.
Moreover, it appears obvious evidence was tampered with—since police claim they only found the ear buds at the hospital. So didn’t Officer Pereza commit perjury—when he stated under oath—there was nothing he observed on Mr. McBean that would’ve prevented him from hearing the supposed commands of police to drop the air gun?
 
Other officers seem to have also aided in a cover-up by also lying to investigators.
 
Sgt. Richard LaCerra told investigators McBean had “spun around” and that he “thought at that point and time he was gonna swing and point the rifle at us.”
That assertion is contradicted by the very person who call 911 to begin with, who said the air gun was never pointed at anyone. Why would this witness, who called police because of his concern, then turn around and lie on the police?
And since these “law enforcement officers” lied, under oath, about the headphones, why should we believe anything they say?
 
Another thing we must talk about here is: why would they prevent the nurse from assisting Mr. McBean? Isn’t it possible she might have been able to save his life? 
 
Or, were they too concerned with fixing the evidence and crime scene to cover-up the unjust shooting of this innocent Black man?
 
This case is similar to the Walter Scott in at least this respect: the photo of Mr. McBean, like the Scott video shot by Feidin Santana, directly disputes the police version of events.
 
The importance of this photo should surely be a central component in the FBI and Justice Department investigations.
Imagine how many cases there have been where the lies of killer cops are left as the truth because there wasn’t evidence like this photo contradicting these “license to kill” murderers of Black people?
 
 

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