BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Within the space of a week in mid-May, police officers here in two separate incidents shot to death two youths for what they claimed were alleged traffic violations.
"I feel my grandson was murdered by the police," stated Oralee Harris, grandmother of Sean Evans, the 14-year-old youth who was shot by a cop May 21.
"The way the cops treated myself and Sean's mother was terrible," said Harris in an interview with the Militant. "The police were so abusive to us. They would not let the mother near her child as he's sitting in the ambulance dying. They said they would beat the hell out of her if she put one foot near the ambulance."
According to the official police version of the slaying, Evans was shot after officer Mark Green stopped the car he was riding in for running a red light. The cops claimed Evans appeared to be reaching for a handgun. They also said they recovered a BB gun as well as several packets of crack cocaine in Evans's underwear.
"Sean never had a BB gun and he never dealt in drugs," stated Harris who charged that the cops planted these items on him.
Two men who witnessed the shooting from about 20 feet away stated that Evans never reached for a weapon, or anything else. "He was trying to get out of the car," said Cornia Conley. "The boy's hands were on the door. I never saw any gun.
"They said he had five ounces of coke, when cocaine costs $350 an ounce, and didn't have any money," said Conley. "Be for real."
Family and friends of Sean Evans gathered at the D.C. courthouse June 1 to demand an independent investigation. Family members and supporters had previously organized a news conference and protest march in the area where the killing took place.
In the second incident, police officer Vernell Tanner on May 15 shot to death 16-year-old Kedemah Kedar Dorsey, who the cops claimed was driving "recklessly" and attempting to run over a police officer.
According to an article in the Washington Post, however, a lawyer who witnessed this shooting disputed the cops' claim. "It was basically at point-blank range," he said. "I thought here's someone getting murdered in front of me."
Both officers have been placed on administrative leave.
In another case, the chief prosecutor in nearby Prince
George's County on June 2 was forced to drop murder charges
against 25-year-old Jeffrey Gilbert, who had been charged in
the April 26 shooting of police Cpl. John Novabilski.
After being arrested, Gilbert was severely beaten by the cops and had to be hospitalized for four days. Shortly afterwards, the slain policeman's stolen pistol and the weapon used to kill him were found in the possession of another man, Ralph McLean, who killed himself after a shoot- out with the police.
A public outcry against the arrest and beating of Gilbert finally forced the authorities to back down. At a news conference, a group of community activists, including the president of Maryland's chapter of the NAACP, protested Gilbert's arrest, beating, and continued detention and asked for a federal inquiry.
"The reason why Jeffrey Gilbert is still incarcerated is because the law enforcement personnel who apprehended him themselves committed a crime," said Mauri Saalakhan, of the Coalition Against Police Brutality.
Police released Gilbert on June 5, 39 days after they arrested him.
Brian Williams is a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 27 in Cheverly, Maryland. Candace Wagner contributed to this article.