News is now emerging about yet another killing of a black man in the immediate hours after the New Year began. In this tragic case we have Adolph Grimes III shot a total of 14 times, 12 in his back by a squad of New Orleans police officers who had no apparent reason to run up on him other than the fact that he was black. Grimes did own a gun, legally, and the police are saying that he fired on them first. If 9 plainclothes officers ran up on him to execute him, Malcolm-Che sees no reason why he shouldn’t have defended himself by any means necessary!
It should be noted that the New Orleans police department has traditionally been one of the most corrupt in the entire nation, even killing one of their own when the code of silence had to be maintained (which is actually referred to in this article as the “blue wall”). How come when we don’t snitch they say we need to get rid of the “no snitching” culture, but when it comes to the police we don’t see any politicians decrying the ‘blue wall’?! We know why: the police are the most powerful and dangerous gang in the streets. Grimes had none of the usual elements used to slander victims of police terror (i.e. he was employed, graduated from a good high school and had no criminal history) but that won’t stop these cops from doing anything they can to portray this killing as justified.
Family wants police charged in New Orleans killing
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/09/new.orleans.shooting/index.html
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) — As fireworks exploded over the Big Easy on New Year’s Eve, 22-year-old Adolph Grimes III pulled up to his grandmother’s home near the French Quarter after a five-hour drive from Houston, Texas.
Grimes, who relocated to Texas with his fiancée, Shae Whitfield, after Hurricane Katrina, couldn’t wait to get home with their 17-month-old son, Chris, and ring in the new year with friends and family.
“He made it at 12 o’clock exact, with a second to spare,” said his father, Adolph Grimes Jr.
Three hours later, Grimes lay dying on the sidewalk half a block from his grandmother’s front door, with fireworks giving way to the hue of flashing police lights.
The Orleans Parish coroner said Grimes was shot 14 times, including 12 times in the back.
Grimes had just walked out of the house and was in a car waiting for his cousin, according to family members, when nine plainclothes officers — part of an undercover narcotics task force driving around New Orleans on New Year’s Eve — surrounded Grimes’ vehicle.
Shots rang out; New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley said Grimes shot at police first.
The Grimes family disagrees, saying police executed a loved one as he ran for his life.
“It was like someone was a murderer, and they finally caught him,” said Grimes’ mother, Patricia. “I ain’t ever seen anything like this. And the worst part about it was I had to wait for the 5 o’clock news to find out my son was murdered.”
Shortly after finding out about the death, the family contacted the FBI to investigate alleged wrongdoing by police officers in the shooting.
“We are hoping for a thorough investigation by the NOPD [New Orleans Police Department] and the district attorney’s office,” said the family’s attorney, Robert Jenkins. ” We know the FBI is going to do a fully complete investigation. We are hoping that criminal charges will be brought against all of these officers for the execution in this case.”
Riley agreed that all the facts need to be released.
“We think that families should do everything they can do make sure this investigation is as thorough and complete as possible so they know the truth,” he said.
Nine police officers were reassigned afterward, but New Orleans police aren’t commenting on the case. The police also declined to release the names of the officers and the shooting report, saying the investigation is ongoing, both internally and with the FBI.
Family members said they want to know why officers descended on a young man with no criminal record, who graduated from one of the most prestigious high schools in the city.
“This violence has to stop. My child’s death will not be meaningless. He did not die in vain,” Patricia Grimes said. “This is meaningless; this never should have happened.”
Grimes did have a gun. His family and the lawyer, Jenkins, said he had a legal permit to carry the weapon. Authorities also said they found a shotgun and extra ammunition in the car’s trunk.
Grimes’ relatives said they don’t believe he opened fire first. And the family’s attorney said he believes the investigation will show rogue cops and sloppy police work.
“I just think it was some bad officers who were out there and imposing their will on the community,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins also said that 48 bullet casings were found at the shooting scene. Police won’t confirm or deny that number, but Riley defended his officers’ actions.
”We train our officers to fire when fired upon. We train them to fire more than one shot,” he said.
But the shooting doesn’t make sense, relatives said, describing Grimes as a young man who was a loving father with a good job and no history of being in trouble.
His grieving mother and father said they won’t be silenced and are not worried about a code of silence among officers, the so-called “blue wall.”
“The walls are going to come down. Just like the walls of Jericho came down,” Grimes’ father said, trying to fight back tears.
January 10th, 2009 at 2:35 PM
they practically lined him up in front of the firing squad
January 13th, 2009 at 11:59 AM
Police officials say 22-year-old Adolph Grimes III prompted a 3 a.m. barrage of police gunfire by firing first at plain-clothed undercover officers in the 6th Ward, although [Police Superintendent] Riley has acknowledged that Grimes may not have known he was being approached by police.
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/ministers_demand_justice_in_ki.html