I'm frankly speechless. Alternet gives us an extremely heartwrenching and significant story on the state of police brutality in our country, one that shows the level of ignorance and hypocrisy is rife among our alleged warriors of justice.
Alternet reports:
Around 3am one night in May 2011, 22-year-old Alan Gomez was outside his brother Eric’s house in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Nervous because she believed Gomez was acting erratically, Eric's girlfriend called the police. After about an hour, Albuquerque police officer Sean Wallace arrived.
Wallace saw Alan Gomez leave the house and then turn to go back inside. According to a subsequent Department of Justice report, Gomez was unarmed and did not pose an immediate threat to the officers or anyone inside the house. Sean Wallace, however, fired a shot, striking Gomez in the back. Gomez died on the scene, while Wallace was never punished.
“He was never indicted, never suspended, nothing,” Mike Gomez, Alan’s father, said. “It was like it never happened.” The officer was given three days of paid leave and $500 from the police union to decompress after “stressful events."
The real kicker is in what Officer Wallace decided to do with his with his pathetic career:
When Mike Gomez heard Sean Wallace was going to represent the Albuquerque Police Department in an annual National Rifle Association-sponsored tournament this week, he was horrified. The Albuquerque Police Pistol Combat Tournament, which is being held September 10-18, is designed for public and private law enforcement, as well as select U.S. military members, to compete against each other, shooting human silhouette targets in a wide range of scenarios. Past scenarios include “Drunk Buddies,” in which friends of a drunk individual getting arrested approach the cop wielding knives and “shouting ‘kill the cops.’” Another scenario, “School Gang Violence” takes place in a high school. The event also includes a weapons expo show and concludes with an awards ceremony in which officers are given trophies and certificates.
The NRA describes the tournament as filled with “days of shooting challenges, lots of fun and a chance to meet fantastic law enforcement professionals from all over the United States and international shooting team members.”
I've always wondered what the NRA would say to growing police brutality in our nation, but it seems that they're completely cool with it. Another injustice comes through the fact that:
Gomez said he recently sent a letter to the mayor and the police chief, asking for the results of the internal investigation of his son’s killing three and a half years ago. He was told they had not done the investigation yet. That lack of accountability and responsibility is what keeps pushing Gomez to fight for a reformed Albuquerque police force.
The Gomez prayer will remain in my prayers along with countless other families who've had their lives irreparably changed and I hope they find will find their long-due justice someday.