Marchers were addressed by Bishop Victor Curry of the New Birth Baptist Church, who called for further investigation into the shooting death.
A group of ministers and community leaders met with Miami police over the killing of the youth. The group questioned why the cops stopped a young man who was not breaking the law.
Rev. Willie Sims told the Miami Herald that police are too suspicious of Black youth. "Every African-American male teenager is not a criminal, regardless of how they dress. They might have the baggy pants, they might have the hats turned sideways, but that does not put them in the category of a criminal," said Sims. Cops claim that Jacobs had a ski mask tucked under his hat and was "suspiciously" eyeing cars in the church parking lot.
The Coconut Grove Ministerial Alliance sponsored a community meeting July 21 to hear several police spokesmen. According to the Miami Times, a Black weekly, "They faced a barrage of criticism" from Coconut Grove residents.
Jacobs was killed by bike patrol officer Chris Griffin, who is white, on the night of July 18. There were apparently no witnesses to the shooting except for Griffin. The Herald reported that "preliminary autopsy reports appear to confirm that Jacobs was in a crouch when he was shot...because the bullet in his chest had a downward trajectory."
The cops claim Jacobs was crouching to pick up a cigarette lighter designed to look like a gun and had started to raise it when Griffin shot. The cop fired five times, striking Jacobs once in the chest.
Many residents in what is known as the Black Grove doubt the police version. "What fool is going to point a toy gun at a cop?" said one young woman in an interview. "I don't believe it." Referring to previous cases of police brutality in the Grove, she added, "The cops are always harassing young people here."
In late February, cops attacked Black high school students in nearby Coral Gables after a Black History Month event.
Police Chief Donald Warshaw defended stopping Jacobs. "Good police work entails a police officer using his or her other sixth sense," Warshaw said. Griffin "did what any good officer would do, which is to go make an inquiry as to why [Jacobs] was there."
In reply, an editorial in the Miami Times pointed out that Warshaw is "completely wrong when he suggests...that it is good police work to stop people without sufficient cause, simply because an officer is suspicious."