Today I watched 137 Shots on Netflix. It is the story of the senseless deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams in 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio. Timothy an Malissa were chased by over 60 Cleveland patrol cars for 20 minutes. When their car came to a stop at least 137 bullets were fired into the car they were in by 12 Cleveland police officers. One offi er climbed on to the hood of the car and fired 49 shots by himself.
Right about now you are probably sitting there asking yourself what crime they committed for 60 patrol cars to chase them and why were 137 shots fired.
Let’s start from the beginning. On the evening of the murder a plain clothes Cleveland police officer observed Malissa Williams get into the car being driven by Timothy Russell. When the car pulled away from the curb he followed them looking for a reason to stop them. This is known as a pretext stop. The plain clothes officer was in an unmarked vehicle. Most jurisdictions specifically prohibit unmarked police vehicles from making traffic stops. This officer wasn’t concerned with the rules. Timothy Russell made traffic turn without signaling and he had his reason for the pretext stop. While Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams were pulled over the officer making the traffic stop lost his nerve. He was afraid to approach the car allown and he had not radioed for backup.
He let them go. For whatever the reason may have been Timothy Russell sped off. The car he was driving was an old car 🚗. Like old cars the engine compression at high speeds made it subject to backfiring. As they were driving down the street at high speed the car backfired while passing two officers in a marked unit. The radioed in that they had come under fire and were pursuing the suspects. They told dispatch that the suspects were armed and dangerous. The pursuit over the next 20 minutes drew more and more patrol cars.
When Mr. Russell finally stopped after being surrounded by patrol cars the police opened fire 🔥. During the firing one officer jumped on the hood of Mr. Russell’s vehicle and proceeded to fire. He obviously had to reload several times because ballistics later demonstrated that 49 of the 137 shoots came from his gun.
The police officers involved and the police union took the position that they had done nothing wrong. It was Mr. Russell’s fault for not stopping sooner.
The blue wall of silence went up. The union told police officers not to cooperate. Ultimately only the officer who had jumped on the hood and fired 49 times was charged. At trial the officers called to testify took the 5th amendment. They refused to testify. It was a bench trial rather than a jury trial and the officer was found not guilty. The ruling was that it was reasonable to those 12 officers to be in fear of their life. Those trained police officers couldn’t distinguish between a car backfiring and a gun shoot.
A few months after the murder of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams Tamir Rice was killed in Cleveland. That homicide was ruled justifiable because the officer involved was also in fear of his life.
If you are so inclined I would suggest that you view 137 Shots for yourself. Then think about the 16 shots that executed Laquan McDonald in Chicago. The shots that killed Micheal Brown and all the other black folks who have lost their lives at the hands of the police needlessly.
I love America but I know she does not love me back. I have served her in the uniform of the military and as a police officer and lately I find myself asking why. Why is it that if you are a melanated human being in this country you can never expect to get the benefit of the doubt. I’m tired and I’m frustrated. It’s not my job to fix someone else’s fear.
Think!!
Eyes Wide 👀 👁 Open!!!