Vol. 79/No. 9      March 16, 2015

Militant

Marchers protest cop killing of Jerame Reid in Bridgeton, New Jersey, Feb. 28. “This is not about Black and white,” Sheila Reid, Jerame’s mother, told crowd, “it’s about right and wrong.”

“This is not about Black and white. It’s about right and wrong,” Sheila Reid, Jerame’s mother, told the protesters.

Reid and Tanya Dickerson-Brown, whose son Brandon Tate-Brown was killed by Philadelphia police Dec. 15, led the march from the site where Jerame was killed to the Cumberland County Courthouse. Police videotaped the crowd and sharpshooters were visible on rooftops along the march route in this town of 25,000 residents, surrounded by farms and food processing plants in southern New Jersey.

Jerame Reid was shot and killed Dec. 30 after Days and Worley stopped the Jaguar that Reid was a passenger in, claiming the car ran a stop sign. A recording of the entire confrontation made on the police car dashboard camera was released Jan. 20 upon request by the news media under New Jersey’s open records law. The video shows that the car had stopped at the stop sign.

Anger over the killing is widespread in the city. Days, who is Black, is known for harassing area youth. Latisha Davis told the Daily Herald that Days had been harassing her teenage son. When she heard the gunshots that night, “You know what my first thoughts were?” she told the paper. “Days has killed my son.”

Nine complaints have been filed against Days for previous incidents of harassment and abuse since he joined the Bridgeton cops in 2012. All were thrown out.

“Get them out of the car,” Days can be heard telling his partner in the video. “We got a gun in the glove compartment.”

“I’m going to shoot you,” Days yells at Reid. “You reach for something you’re gonna be f—ing dead.”

“Bro, I got no reason to reach for nothing,” Reid responds. When Days repeats several times that if Reid reaches for anything he’s dead and “don’t you f—ing move,” Reid says, “I’m getting out of the car and I’m gonna lie on the ground.” As he gets out of the car with his hands up Days shoots him several times. Officer Worley, who is Caucasian, shoots once.

After the shooting, Days continues to yell, “I’m going to f—ing shoot you.”

The two cops are on administrative leave but have not been charged.

“This is not just an issue in Bridgeton, or Philadelphia, or New Jersey,” Walter Hudson, head of the local National Awareness Alliance civil rights organization, told protesters. “This a national issue of police brutality.”

Mirabella Meotti, who worked with Reid in a vegetable processing plant in nearby Vineland, joined the march. “I’m here to show support for Jerame and justice,” she told the Militant.

Protesters came from Atlantic City, Newark, Philadelphia and the surrounding communities. The action is the fifth since the shooting, and more are planned.

“This is what needs to happen, there needs to be millions out here in these streets,” Hudson told the crowd. Then, he said, “They will pull us into their office and sit down and say ‘let’s talk about it, what do you want brothers and sisters.’”  
 
 
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