Police Brutality Even Here

I am a white male who grew up in the mostly white suburbs of New Orleans attending all white parochial schools until 1977 when I graduated from high school. My only run-ins with law enforcement were due to a lead foot and never had reason to fear police. In my 20’s I didn’t really give much thought to how people of color might view police although I was aware that historically law enforcement had supported segregation, often violently, like at the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma.

As I have gotten older, seen the wider world, and made friends of other ethnicities, I’ve become a little more sensitive to how black members of my community can have different experiences with the same law enforcement officers that I have never had reason to worry about. Over the last couple of years that awareness has expanded further as we have seen horrific videos of black men and sometimes boys beaten after being subdued or shot by police officers while running away. I still had hopes that at least the police in my city and the cities around it weren’t the sort to do that.

A few weeks ago I found out that I was wrong when Schertz police officers beat and repeatedly tased 18 year old Zekee Rayford after he was subdued in front of his home. It’s clear from the video provided both by his family and Schertz police that Rayford was not attacking the officers, had no weapon, and was not a threat to anyone. It is clear is that police used excessive and unnecessary force against an unarmed, non-threatening, young man over a purported traffic violation.

As it happens, the Fifth Circuit Court ruled on a similar case on November 20, just a few weeks after Mr. Rayford being abused by police officers. Lawyers for the Gretna, LA police officers argued in federal court that they had qualified immunity from prosecution for their actions in the death of Kendole Jackson. Mr. Jackson was apparently suffering from mental health issues when he was spotted staring at a schoolyard full of children, when approached by law enforcement he ran and tried to hide in a convenience store where, curled in a ball on the floor, he begged the clerk to call the real police as the people chasing him wanted to kill him. Sadly in the end they did just that.

Here’s what Judge Don Willett wrote in the three judge ruling: “What is the virtue of a proportional response?” an exasperated President Bartlet demands in a memorable scene from the first season of The West Wing. Anything more, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff coolly advises, would be a “staggering overreaction . . . you’ll have doled out a $5,000 punishment for a fifty-buck crime.” For those in positions of public trust—from Commanders in Chief (who must “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”) to City of Gretna Police Officers (who “vow to protect life and property while safe guarding constitutional guarantees”)—proportional responses are good policy. We expect those charged with executing and enforcing our laws to take measured actions that ascend in severity only as circumstances require. A disproportionate response is unreasonable. And if it describes physical force inflicted by a police officer, it is unconstitutional.

Whether or not Schertz police officers violated department policy, they violated Rayford’s constitutional rights as soon as they began using more force than necessary once he was on the ground. Judge Willett is no bleeding heart liberal, he is a Republican appointed to the federal bench by Trump.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 9, 2020