Vol. 76/No. 36      October 8, 2012

Watts, 15, suffered from Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism. His father, Steven Watts, had called a city nonemergency line asking for assistance in dealing with his son the day of the killing.

At a rally in front of the police station, Stephon’s mother, Danelene Powell-Watts, described what happened next. When the police came to the door family members told the cops that things were under control and they weren’t needed, she said.

“The cops insisted they had to see Stephon,” Powell-Watts said. “The family told the police only one of them could come in, but three went in anyway. Stephon was in the basement with his father. He held a butter knife, used to open a storage cabinet.”

The police said one officer was struck on his arm by Stephon and two other cops then shot the youth. The day after the shooting Calumet City Police Chief Edward Gilmore claimed that the cops were “cornered and having no way to retreat back up the stairs, the officers fired one shot each.”

The family has helped organize several actions to protest the killing and others by the Calumet police.

Powell-Watts had to file a lawsuit to obtain the names of the two officers—William Coffey and Robert Hynek—involved in the shooting of her son, according to the Huffington Post. She has also filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

Lajuana Lampkins, mother of Prince Akbar, 32, killed by the Calumet police in January 2010, spoke at the rally.

A receptionist at a local business had called the police after Akbar, who had a bipolar disorder and was disoriented, had asked to use a phone. “Akbar was Tasered and shot multiple times in the leg and abdomen by Calumet City police,” Lampkins said.

Emmett Farmer, whose 29-year-old son Flint Farmer was killed by Chicago cop Gildardo Sierra in West Englewood in June 2011, also spoke. Sierra fired 16 shots at Farmer, hitting him seven times. Three of the shots, captured on police video, were fired into Flint Farmer’s back as he lay wounded on the ground.

No cops have been charged in any of these killings.

“One thing the cops didn’t know was that Stephon’s family and friends are people ready to stand up and fight for human rights!” Powell-Watts said at the conclusion of the rally.
 
 
Related articles:
South San Francisco march protests cop killing of teenager
Bronx residents don’t believe cop story in deli worker death  
 
 
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