The national reckoning over police violence has spread to schools, with several districts choosing in recent days to sever their relationships with local police departments out of concern that the officers patrolling their hallways represent more of a threat than a form of protection.
School districts in Minneapolis, Seattle and Portland, Ore., have all promised to remove officers, with the Seattle superintendent saying the presence of armed police officers “prohibits many students and staff from feeling fully safe.” In Oakland, Calif., leaders expressed support on Wednesday for eliminating the district’s internal police force, while the Denver Board of Education voted unanimously on Thursday to end its police contract.
In Los Angeles and Chicago, two of the country’s three largest school districts, teachers’ unions are pushing to get the police out, showing a willingness to confront another politically powerful, heavily unionized profession.
Some teachers and students, African-Americans in particular, say they consider officers on campus a danger, rather than a bulwark against everything from fights to drug use to mass shootings.
There has been no shortage of episodes to back up their concerns. In Orange County, Fla., in November, a school resource officer was fired after a video showed him grasping a middle school student’s hair and yanking her head back during an arrest after students fought near school grounds. A few weeks later, an officer assigned to a school in Vance County, N.C., lost his job after he repeatedly slammed an 11-year-old boy to the ground.
Nadera Powell, 17, said seeing officers in the hallways at Venice High School in Los Angeles sent a clear message to black students like her: “Don’t get too comfortable, regardless of whether this school is your second home. We have you on watch. We are able to take legal or even physical action against you.”
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Police departments have typically responded to calls from school employees, but the everyday presence of officers in hallways did not become widespread until the 1990s. That was when concern over mass shootings, drug abuse and juvenile crime led federal and state officials to offer local districts money to hire officers and purchase law enforcement equipment, such as metal detectors.
By the 2013-14 school year, two-thirds of high school students, 45 percent of middle schoolers and 19 percent of elementary school students attended a school with a police officer, according to a 2018 report from the Urban Institute. Majority black and Hispanic schools are more likely to have officers on campus than majority white schools (Goldstein 1-2, 4).
A police officer who fatally shot 17-year-old Anthony J. Thompson Jr. in a chaotic confrontation inside a high school bathroom on April 12 will not face charges.
Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen said she will not charge officer Jonathon Clabough, who fired the shot that killed Thompson. Clabough also shot officer Adam Willson in the struggle.
"This is a self-defense case," Allen said at a two-hour news conference. "At the end of the day, we have found the shooting by Officer Clabough was justified."
Prominent civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump announced Monday he is representing Thompson’s family.
"Once again, when a Black person is killed, in this case a Black child, the police quickly shape a narrative to justify the death," said Crump in a statement issued on Twitter.
In the days after the shooting, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released two differing accounts of what occurred, including an incorrect assertion that Thompson fired a shot that struck an officer.
"The world was told that Anthony shot an officer and that's why police fatally shot him," Crump said.
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Allen said police went into the school's bathroom to find Thompson after his girlfriend's mother accused Thompson of beating her daughter at school. Thompson and his best friend were inside, each in separate stalls, though it's not clear whether police knew that when they entered the bathroom.
Body camera footage revealed four officers wound up inside the bathroom: Clabough, officer Brian Baldwin, school resource officer Adam Willson and Lt. Stanley Cash. They surrounded Thompson, who was wearing a backpack, and began pulling him out of the stall.
Allen said Clabough saw a gun in the front pocket of Thompson's hoodie "with Anthony Thompson's hand" on the butt.
"He thinks, 'I'm about to die,'" Allen said of the officer's mindset.
Suddenly, Thompson's gun fired. Baldwin immediately dropped away from Clabough's view. Clabough mistakenly believed Baldwin had been shot so he fired, striking Thompson in the chest.
Allen said Clabough fired a second shot because he believed Thompson was about to shoot Cash. That shot, she said, struck Willson in the back of his thigh. Cash then climbed on top of Thompson, who was facedown on the floor and bleeding to death.
Allen said only 11 seconds elapsed between the time Clabough first saw the gun and when he shot Thompson (Satterfield “No” 1-2).
[Police attorney] Burks said Willson opted to go into the bathroom first.
"This was his beat, so to speak, so he went in first," Burks said. "Once he got in there, he called Anthony out by name."
Burks said Willson saw a set of feet under a stall door just as the three other officers began arriving inside the restroom.
Thompson opened the stall door. Willson placed his hand on Thompson's right arm.
"There was a hesitation," Burks said. "(Thompson) put both hands into his (hoodie front) pocket, which causes most every officer concern."
Burks said Willson is a firearms training expert and used one of the techniques he teaches other officers to avoid being shot or being forced to shoot an assailant.
"He wasn't trying to disarm Thompson," Burks said. "His training is not to go down in the pocket, so he grabbed Anthony's wrist. You can see that in the video. Once Officer Willson realizes the gun is in Anthony's hand, Officer Willson was determined to hold onto his wrist" (Satterfield “KPD” 3-4).
The Knox County District Attorney’s Office has charged a man for providing a handgun to Anthony Thompson Jr., the 17-year-old student killed in a shooting at a Knoxville high school last month.
Kelvon Foster, 21, has been charged with providing a handgun to juveniles. Federal officials also obtained complaints charging him with making false statements in connection with the purchase of a firearm.
An arrest warrant states Thompson went to Harvey’s Pistol & Pawn in Knoxville on April 5 and met with Foster. Thompson viewed the handguns for sale and left the pawnshop. Foster then purchased a handgun and met with Thompson later that day. Foster admitted to exchanging the pistol for cash and marijuana (Raucoules 1).
… We know that just after 12:30 p.m. on April 12 Thompson’s ex-girlfriend had gone to a school leader’s office to get away from his alleged threatening behavior. She then went home.
After that, we also know Thompson was seen on school security camera footage leaving and coming back to the school. He wanders around.
He sat on a staircase for quite some time. All of this activity took place during school hours.
Finally, just after 3 p.m., nearly three hours after the confrontation with his ex-girlfriend, police found him in that bathroom (Dashe 1).
Officer Adam Willson's attorney, Charles Burks Jr., told Knox News in an exclusive interview that Willson wasn't trying to hurt Thompson on the day the boy was killed. He was trying to save him and his fellow officers.
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A 20-year veteran of KPD, Willson's current assignment made it his job to keep students and staff safe at Austin-East. He made the critical decision to go into the bathroom — a decision that would cost Thompson his life and leave Willson permanently scarred from a gunshot from his fellow officer.
Burks says evidence made public earlier this week makes clear what Willson has said privately all along - he wasn't expecting or seeking to spur violence and was never told Thompson might be armed, angry or scared.
"Willson was trying to prevent Anthony from shooting or hitting anybody else," Burks said. "He grabbed Anthony's wrist. ... He was trying to keep Anthony's hand inside his pocket and keep it pressed next to his body to keep him from pulling it out.
"He held onto that wrist throughout the whole process," Burks said. "When a shot fired from Anthony's gun, (Willson) still had his wrist."
Burks said Willson didn't even register what happened next — Clabough raised his gun and fired twice, hitting the teenager in the chest and Willson in the back of his thigh.
"(Willson) was still trying to protect everyone," Burks said, explaining that Willson purposely covered Thompson's body as he fell to the floor to try to trap the gun underneath him (Satterfield “KPD” 5-6).
{Paste the following on Google to watch Knox News’s 12 minute 5 second video. Note that two teenagers end up face down on the floor. The boy wearing a white t-shirt was a friend of Thompson’s. He had been sitting in another stall when the officers entered the bathroom]
Video shows final moments before Anthony Thompson Jr. is ...
Works cited:
Dashe, Summer. “Questions Arise after Anthony Thompson Jr. Seen Roaming Campus prior to Austin-East Shooting; School Launches Internal Investigation.” WATE, updated April 24, 2021. Net. seen-roaming-campus-prior-to-austin-east-shooting-school-launches-internal-investigation/https://www.wate.com/news/top-stories/questions-arise-after-anthony-thompson-jr-
Goldstein, Dana. “Do Police Officers Make Schools Safer or More Dangerous?” The New York Times, June 12, 2021. Net. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/us/schools-police-resource-officers.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article
Raucoules, Gregory. “Man Charged with Providing Handgun to Knoxville Student Fatally Shot by Police. KWRN, May 14, 2021. Net. https://www.wkrn.com/news/tennessee-news/man-charged-with-providing-handgun-to-anthony-thompson-jr/
Satterfield, Jamie. “KPD Will Conduct Internal Investigation Surrounding Anthony J. Thompson Jr. Shooting Death.” Knox News, updated April 24, 2021. Net.
Satterfield, Jamie. “No Charges for Tennessee Officer Who Fatally Shot Black Student in High School Bathroom.” USA Today, April 21, 2021. Net. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/04/21/anthony-j-thompson-jr-shooting-no-charges-tennessee-officer/7328032002/
Dekalb County [Georgia] Police said they were called to Terrace Trail on Monday after getting a call about a man "aggressively wielding a knife." Police said when they made contact with the man, he lunged at them with the knife, leading an officer to open fire. It was unclear if [Matthew] Williams was hit. GBI [Georgia Bureau of Investigation] said Williams ran into his home, when at some point he came at police again and was shot.
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… Investigators said the man was shot after he lunged at police with a knife, but his
Williams' family said they don't believe law enforcement's account that their loved one threatened the officers, describing him as the most caring and selfless person they knew.
"My brother was not violent. My brother was not confrontational," his sister, Chyah Williams explained.
The GBI has taken over the investigation, and said a knife was recovered from the scene. We have requested the body cam video from the officers who responded that night, but have been told it is not available because the case is still under investigation (Kleinpeter 1).
On Thursday, Matthew Williams’ family and their attorney said they went to the police department headquarters where Chief Mirtha Ramos played body camera video showing the shooting from Monday.
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His family members and their attorney, Mawuli Davis, tell 11Alive the video does show Williams with a knife, but they don't believe he should have been shot or killed.
Two of his sisters said they understand why officers initially responded as they did, but they believe their brother was having some form of a mental health crisis. Once he was back inside his home, they believe officers should have backed off and called for a mental health expert to intervene.
“He went into his own home. He was in the sanctuary of his own home, in his safe space. They kicked the door down, he kept repeatedly telling them this is my house," said Hannah Williams.
Davis said -- to him -- the video showed two separate incidents that should have received two different responses.
“The initial officers were clearly afraid for their lives and justifiably, but then in another one where Mr. Williams was clearly in his home and scared for his life," he said (Henke 1).
A private pathologist hired by the family of Matthew Zadok Williams … said the 35-year-old could have survived had police acted with greater urgency.
Attorney Mawuli Davis, who represents Williams’ family, said more than an hour elapsed between the shooting and the discovery of his body by a SWAT officer. It’s unclear how long Williams had been dead. At a news conference last week, Williams’ family questioned why he received no medical attention after he was shot.
“They left him to die,” Davis said.
And why, they ask, was he shot at all? He had been contained to his Snapfinger Woods Drive condo, and while armed with a knife, he was surrounded by police. There was no imminent threat to public safety, Davis said.
Jackson Gates, the pathologist hired by the family, said preliminary findings revealed “some hemorrhaging, which gave me the idea it was a slow bleed.”
“That gave me the impression that he dropped his blood pressure really, really quick,” Gates said. “Which means he wasn’t quite dead and could’ve been salvageable. "
DeKalb police stressed different aspects of the case more than a week ago, releasing body camera video showing Williams chasing after an officer outside his condo, knife in hand.
In the ensuing standoff, an officer can be heard telling Williams, “Let me see you throw (the knife) down. You throw it down, we’ll put our stuff down.”
“I’m begging you,” the unidentified officer continued. “You’re a Black man. I’m a Black man. You don’t have to die today.”
Williams refused to surrender, saying he was defending his property. Police had been called to the scene by a resident of the complex. She told them Williams’ condo was vacant, and initially officers tried to get him to leave the scene.
“It was a deadly error to communicate that wasn’t his home,” Davis said. Police treated him like a trespasser, not a homeowner, said the lawyer, which likely influenced their decision to kick the door down in a show of force.
Family members acknowledge the first shot, fired outside of the condo by one officer in defense of another, was reasonable.
“The analysis cannot stop at that door,” Davis said.
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In a statement, DeKalb County spokesman Andrew Cauthen told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Due to the ongoing investigation, only two of the videos have been released, and we cannot comment on the specifics of the case” (Boone 1).
On April 12, Dekalb County (east of metro Atlanta) police shot into the home of Matthew Zadok Williams while he was behind closed doors, hiding behind an ottoman. The police left him to bleed to death inside his own home. In the aftermath, a doctor stated that Williams’ life could have been saved had the police administered medical aid.
A neighbor called the police on April 12 saying a man with a knife had broken into an abandoned home. The police arrived onsite around 4 p.m. under the impression that Williams was homeless. The family later indicated that Williams owned the home and had lived there for 15 years.
Williams, who was having a mental health episode and needed a mental health professional, was instead met by armed police. At one point, Williams lunged at the police with a knife and the police retaliated by shooting. Williams escaped into his home and hid behind the ottoman. The police simply shot into his home.
The Williams family, distrustful of the initial autopsy results, hired their own physician. “There wasn’t a lot of blood clot, so that gave me the impression that he was not quite dead, and could have been salvageable in my opinion,” said Dr. Jackson Gates.
The media has tried to blame Williams for his own death with misleading headlines stating that he was killed after lunging at police with a knife. However, what the headlines are leaving out is that the shots that killed him occurred while he presented no threat to police. It should be noted that the Dekalb Police Department has released only a segment of the body camera footage.
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In recent years, 911 has become the only option for people looking for mental health crisis intervention. The New York City Police Department has reported that they respond to more than 400 mental health calls per day, averaging more than 12,000 per month. Police encounters with people suffering mental illness typically do not end well.
Recent studies have found that 25 to 50 percent of people who are shot and killed by police officers in the U.S. suffer from mental illness. The Treatment Advocacy Center states that people with untreated mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed during a police encounter than other civilians approached by law enforcement. This number is even higher if the victim is also a person of a color and/or identifies as LGBTQ (Justice 1, 3).
{Paste the following on Google to watch WSB-TV video coverage of the encounter and shooting]
EXCLUSIVE: Bodycam video shows man with knife moments …
Works cited:
Boone, Christian. “Lawyer for Family of DeKalb Man Shot by Cops: ‘They Left Him To Die’.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 26, 2021. Net. https://www.ajc.com/news/crime/lawyer-for-family-of-dekalb-man-shot-by-cops-they-left-him-to-die/J5HC5Q6NZZDRHC5JZKLU7XAGUY/
Henke, Joe. “Family of Man Killed by DeKalb Police Says Chief Showed Them Bodycam Video of Shooting.” 11 ALIVE, updated May 26, 2021. Net. https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/matthew-williams-family-watch-bodycam-video-dekalb-police-shooting/85-37b6b546-ec97-439d-a412-56ea51d5a4ec
“Justice for Matthew Zadok Williams: Mental Health Crises and Police Terror.” Liberation, May 3, 2021. Net. https://www.liberationnews.org/justice-for-matthew-zadok-williams-mental-health-crises-and-police-terror/
Kleinpeter, Brittany. “Neighbor Says He 'Didn't See Anything in His Hands' in Shooting Where Police Killed Man Allegedly Armed with Knife.” 11 ALIVE, April 15, 2021. Net. https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/neighbor-says-he-didnt-see-anything-in-his-hand-after-police-shoot-alleged-knife-wielding-suspect/85-a05e21a0-307d-4ad5-97bb-bc846c9ca3fb
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