This disturbing report from Jack Posobiec (via Legal Insurrection, tipped from a commenter in today’s earlier post) shows exactly what can be expected when the media engages in deliberate misrepresentation of criminal cases. We live in an era of neo-Stalinism, where The Party organizes show trials preceded by propaganda that demonizes the accused as an “enemy of the people” (vrag naroda).
People can be taught to hate a person they never met if, as in the case of Kyle Rittenhouse, they are fed a controlled diet of lies and distortions, intended to portray someone in the worst possible light. There are people on the Left, cocooned inside the media echo chamber of hate propaganda, who sincerely believe that Rittenhouse is a sort of right-wing assassin, who went to Kenosha to kill “racial justice” protesters. This is the narrative of the Rittenhouse case created by CNN and MNSBC, and amplified by every propaganda organ of The Party.
Did I mention that actual Communists are in Kenosha?
“We ready for change” chants from a group of Revcom (Revolutionary Communist Party) demonstrators outside the courthouse this afternoon #Kenoshapic.twitter.com/5rUcRcYRfE
Kyle Rittenhouse should be acquitted, but he won’t be, because there are almost certainly two or three jury members in Kenosha who will vote for conviction no matter what the law or the evidence may be. Recall that it was Democratic voters who rioted in Kenosha, unleashing three nights of vandalism and arson because domestic abuser Jacob Blake got shot by a cop while violently resisting arrest. If you think it’s a bad thing for cops to shoot violent criminals, and if you think torching a used-car lot is an appropriate form of “peaceful protest,” you’re obviously a Democratic voter — the Kenosha riot was a Joe Biden campaign rally.
“This is case-closed self-defense. Democrats allow mob violence to rule the streets. Americans have the right to defend themselves.”
That’s what I said the day after the shooting, and I haven’t changed my mind, but the pro-riot/anti-police Democrats haven’t changed their minds either and, if there are just two or three Democrats on the Rittenhouse jury, that will be enough to block a “not guilty” verdict.
“Why did President Biden suggest that Kyle Rittenhouse on trial in Kenosha is a white supremacist?” Fox News’s Peter Doocey asked the press secretary this week during a news conference.
Psaki let out a loud, long sigh, as if it’s tiresome to be asked about an issue the Biden team previously was very eager to discuss.
“What I’m not going to speak to right now is anything about an ongoing trial, nor the president’s past comments,” responded Psaki. “What I can reiterate for you is the president’s view that we shouldn’t have, broadly speaking, vigilantes patrolling our communities with assault weapons. We shouldn’t have opportunists corrupting peaceful protests by rioting and burning down the communities they claim to represent anywhere in the country.”
The Biden campaign tweeted a video on Sept. 30, 2020, with the accompanying caption, “There’s no other way to put it: the President of the United States refused to disavow white supremacists on the debate stage last night.” The video includes images of Rittenhouse taken on the night of the riots.
(Hat-tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.) The prosecution of this case was a circus sideshow from start to finish, and if you wonder why crime is rampant in America’s cities, just think of how much effort went into prosecuting Kyle Rittenhouse, and how little effort — in fact, no effort at all — Kenosha devoted to keeping the dangerous criminal JoJo Rosenbaum behind bars. If Rosenbaum had been in jail, where he belonged, nobody would have gotten shot that night, but Kenosha turned Rosenbaum loose and, as Tucker Carlson said, JoJo “died as he had lived, trying to touch an unwilling minor.” I’m glad he’s dead.
Today, I watched MSNBC (so you don’t have to) and you would have thought it was the biggest thing since VJ Day, the way they were celebrating the federal grand jury indictment of Steve Bannon:
A federal grand jury on Friday indicted Steve Bannon, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump, on two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena to testify.
The Justice Department said Bannon faces one count for refusing to appear for an Oct. 14 deposition and a second count for refusing to provide documents related to the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson and ranking member Liz Cheney have accused Bannon of knowing about the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol before it happened. They seek to question him about discussions he had with Trump in the days before the violent insurrection in which radical Trump supporters stormed the Capitol as lawmakers were voting to certify the 2020 election. If convicted, Bannon faces between 30 days and one year in prison and up to a $1,000 fine.
“Since my first day in office, I have promised Justice Department employees that together we would show the American people by word and deed that the department adheres to the rule of law, follows the facts and the law and pursues equal justice under the law,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “Today’s charges reflect the department’s steadfast commitment to these principles.”
Bannon is one of multiple Trump associates whom the Jan. 6 committee has subpoenaed, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who was supposed to appear for a deposition Friday.
Earlier this week, the committee also subpoenaed former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany; senior adviser Stephen Miller; Nicholas Luna, Trump’s former personal assistant; Molly Michael, special assistant to the president and oval office operations coordinator; Benjamin Williamson, deputy assistant to the president and senior adviser to Meadows; Christopher Liddell, former White House deputy chief of staff; John McEntee, former White House personnel director; Keith Kellogg, national security adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence; Cassidy Hutchinson, special assistant for legislative affairs to Trump; and Kenneth Klukowski, former senior counsel to Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark.
We’re back to “The Walls Are Closing In,” you see — party like it’s 2018!
As I said earlier this week, a source with direct knowledge of these subpoenas described it to me as “the fishing expedition from hell” — basically, the Select Committee is demanding every email, text message, etc., in any way related to Jan. 6. But the people being subpoenaed have not been accused of any crime in this matter, because there was no crime except for the 600 or so people charged with storming the Capitol. What, pray tell, do Steve Bannon’s emails have to with that? If the FBI had any reason to believe that Bannon “conspired” with the militia kooks and QAnon crazies who breached the Capitol barricades, don’t you think he would have been charged by now? But wait a minute . . .
There were other people who were much more involved in planning the “Stop the Steal” rally than Bannon, and who have also been subpoenaed by the Committee. Why haven’t they been indicted?
Oh, you’re figuring this out now, aren’t you?
It’s a fucking publicity stunt, and Bannon is the Big Name to help hype up the MSNBC audience and generate New York Times headlines.
The whole agenda here is to keep the “insurrection” in the news until November 2022, the same way they kept “Russian collusion” alive all the way to the 2018 midterms. It’s a hoax of a sham of a farce.
Two years ago, police arrested 19-year-old Brooke Litchfield in Kentucky after she and a boyfriend were accused of brutally robbing a man who had posted on social media about receiving an inheritance:
Jefferstontown Police say Litchfield, [22-year-old James] Rice and another man went to HomeTowne Studios Louisville — an extended stay hotel — to hang out with a friend over the weekend.
That friend had recently inherited money and had posted about it on social media.
While the four were in the hotel, court documents say Litchfield asked the victim to take a selfie with her.
That’s when police say one of the men who came with her hit the victim in the back of the head and beat his face, knocking out his teeth and damaging his eye socket.
Officers say the hotel room was covered with blood.
They then took off with $3,500 in cash and a $1,300 necklace.
You might think that this would have landed Litchfield in prison for a long time, but instead she is now back in the news:
A woman is in jail after she was allegedly hired as a prostitute on Saturday along with another woman, whom she reportedly shot on accident when she was aiming at the client.
Police received a call around 6:30 p.m. about a man who had been robbed, and another call a few minutes later about woman who had been shot. They discovered that the calls were related.
Investigators say the man hired the two female prostitutes to come to his apartment.
An altercation apparently broke out between them inside the apartment, and one of the women allegedly pulled a gun and shot at the man.
However, police say, she missed and hit the other woman instead.
She then left to drive the injured woman to the hospital, who is said to have non-life-threatening injuries.
Officers arrested 21-year-old Brooke Litchfield in connection to the shooting.
She is being charged with robbery, assault, and wanton endangerment.
The other woman and the man are facing prostitution charges.
Everybody is now talking about the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, and the judge’s “don’t get brazen with me” eruption at the prosecutor, but there is a larger story that is being overlooked — namely, the media’s role in bringing about this politically motivated prosecution which they are now misreporting to their audiences. After watching CNN (so you don’t have to) on Tuesday, I turned the TV Wednesday to MSNBC and was struck by the fact that nowhere in their commentary did they mention that Joseph “JoJo” Rosenbaum was a convicted child rapist who had just been released from a psychiatric ward the day he was killed in the Kenosha riot.
This is the most important fact in the whole case.
Rosenbaum was a hardened criminal who spent more than a decade in Arizona prisons. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and after he showed up on the third night of rioting in downtown Kenosha, immediately confronted the armed men guarding the used car lot.
Now that it is confirmed Joseph Rosenbaum was one of the people shot and killed by alleged gunman Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, I filmed him earlier in the night taunting the armed civilians, saying, "Shoot me, n***a." pic.twitter.com/Nn2encm78Y
It was, of course, Andy Ngo who first reported Rosenbaum’s sex offender status, and Ngo further reported that both of the other two rioters shot by Kyle Rittenhouse also had criminal records. Anthony Huber, 26, who attacked Rittenhouse with a skateboard and was fatally shot, “has a criminal history that includes charges of battery & repeat domestic abuse,” Ngo reported. Gaige Grosskreutz, 26, who was seen on video pointing a pistol at Rittenhouse before being wounded in the arm, is “a member of the People’s Revolution Movement,” Ngo reported, and “has a criminal record that includes being intoxicated & armed w/a gun.”
Now, let’s ask what should be an obvious question: What are the odds that a guy opens fire at a mass gathering and all three of the people he shoots turn out to have criminal records? Doesn’t this tell you something about who is engaging in these “mostly peaceful” protests?
These facts were known, and widely reported in local media, in addition to conservative web sites. But if all you know about the news is what you get from CNN and MSNBC, you don’t know these things.
Perhaps the media think they are justified in ignoring Rosenbaum’s heinous criminal history because they don’t want to “blame the victim” — but JoJo Rosenbaum was the aggressor in this incident.
That’s crucial to understanding what Kyle Rittenhouse did, but social media companies have joined the effort to suppress this crucial fact, banning anyone who defends Rittenhouse. In a now-banned YouTube video from August 2020, analyzing the then-available evidence, one commentator explained how Rosenbaum got himself shot to death:
“That’s the ultimate ‘play a stupid game, win a stupid prize.’ You’re running, chasing somebody down. The person you’re chasing has a rifle. What did you expect?”
Everything we’ve learned about the case since then only confirms the verdict I delivered at the time: “Nobody would have gotten shot had it not been for the aggressive stupidity of convicted sex offender JoJo Rosenbaum. Once he had collected his stupid prize, the rest of the rioting mob decided they should join in on the stupid game of chasing the guy with the rifle.” Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz didn’t know what had happened (i.e., that Rittenhouse had shot Rosenbaum in self-defense) and chased Rittenhouse in the belief that the teenager was attempting to flee, when in fact Rittenhouse was trying to get back to where the police were. This all occurred during a breakdown of law and order, a riot in which Huber and Grosskreutz were participants, which had overwhelmed the ability of police in Kenosha. There were no police in the vicinity of the intersection of Sheridan Road and 63rd Street, where the criminal maniac Rosenbaum attacked Rittenhouse.
This morning, I turned the TV over to MSNBC and Morning Joe is full of hand-wringing about the prosecution’s failure in the case — they are literally trying to play the race card, saying that Rittenhouse would have been treated differently if he were black. But there was no element of race in the case — all three people who got shot by Rittenhouse were white, and in each incident, Rittenhouse fired in self-defense. In America, everybody has the right of armed self-defense; it’s in the Constitution and, while MSNBC audiences may not realize it, black defendants are often acquitted (or never face charges) in similar cases.
If I’ve got a gun, and you get shot after you attack me, it doesn’t matter that you were unarmed in the attack. That’s how the Second Amendment right to bear arms helps to prevent violence. You’re less likely to be assaulted if your would-be attacker has to consider the possibility that his attack may result in his own death. What happened in Kenosha, however, was that JoJo Rosenbaum — who, I remind you, had just gotten out of a psych ward that morning — did not behave as any sane person would behave. Like, if you or I happened to find ourselves in the middle of a riot, our first impulse would be to get someplace safe. If, during this hypothetical scenario, we encountered someone with an AR-15, the last thing we would have done (because were are not crazy) would be to shout obscene threats, charge after them, and try to grab their rifle.
Rosenbaum’s fiancée, Kariann Swart, testified Friday that Rosenbaum had been released from a hospital the day of his death, and was dropped off in Downtown Kenosha. Although it is not being shared with the jury, Rosenbaum had been in the hospital for mental health treatment after a suicide attempt. . . .
In her testimony, Swart said Rosenbaum walked to the hotel where she was staying. The couple had been homeless during portions of their relationship, at one point living in a tent, but had recently been staying in a hotel room. She estimated it would have taken Rosenbaum an hour to walk from the transit center where he had been dropped off by hospital personnel to her hotel. . . .
“We were talking about things we needed to work on in our relationship.” She said he seemed excited and happy, and was talking about changes he wanted to make in his life. “When he left he said he would see me in the morning.”
Not shared with the jury was why Rosenbaum, who had bipolar disorder, was not able to stay with Swart. He was out on bond for domestic battery, and had a no contact order with Swart. She told him to stay away from the area where there had been rioting.
“I did explain to him that things had gotten bad the last few days because he had not been in town the last few days and I did tell him explicitly not to go downtown,” Swart said.
“He was out on bond for domestic battery.”
Do you think anyone watching CNN or MSNBC knows any of this? Certainly, they’re not going to get it from CNN or MSNBC. As I have previously said, nobody would have gotten shot that night if not for Rosenbaum’s deranged behavior. Rosenbaum was out on bond for beating his girlfriend, and violated a no-contact order by going to see her after he got out of the psych ward. She “explicitly” warned him to stay away from the riot downtown, but JoJo went there anyway.
No one watching coverage of the Rittenhouse trial on MSNBC or CNN is going to learn these important facts about Rosenbaum, which are being excluded from the courtroom because they are not directly relevant to the legal question of Rittenhouse’s guilt or innocence. But if the jury is not allowed to hear testimony on these matters — Rittenhouse didn’t know anything about Rosenbaum, and therefore this could not have been a factor in his decision to pull the trigger — it is certainly crucial to understanding the context of what happened that night.
The same authorities who allowed “mostly peaceful protesters” to take over the streets of Kenosha — the shootings happened on the third night of riots in the city — were also responsible for a criminal justice system that failed to keep Joseph Rosenbaum behind bars. For that matter, the pretext for this riot, the Kenosha police shooting of Jacob Blake, was further evidence of systemic failure by the authorities:
The cops involved in the shooting of Jacob Blake — which touched off a fresh wave of angry, anti-police sentiment across the country — were attempting to arrest him for violating a restraining order stemming from an alleged sexual assault, The Post has learned.
Blake, 29, was forbidden from going to the Kenosha home of his alleged victim from the May 3 incident, and police were dispatched Sunday following a 911 call saying he was there.
The responding officers were aware he had an open warrant for felony sexual assault, according to dispatch records and the Kenosha Professional Police Association, which released a statement on the incident on Friday.
Why wasn’t Jacob Blake already behind bars? If we are to take liberals seriously when they talk about “violence against women,” shouldn’t something be done about the way perpetrators like Jacob Blake are being turned loose to terrorize their victims? But instead, now we have liberals implicitly arguing for a catch-and-release policy for domestic abusers, and demonizing cops as “racist” because one of the perps got shot.
The reason liberals are able to engage in such self-contradictory beliefs — violence against women must be punished, but don’t keep domesetic abusers in jail or send cops after them, if they happen to be black — is because the mainstream media won’t point out the contradictions and, in many cases, the media refuse to even acknowledge the relevant facts.
Viewers of CNN and MSNBC are never confronted with evidence or logic that would contradict the preferred liberal narrative of events. Joe Scarborough this morning was ranting about Rittenhouse being “aggressive,” simply because the kid was carrying a rifle, as if firearms possession does not deter aggression. The entire rationale of the Second Amendment — the ability of armed citizens to preserve the peace — was central to the events in Kenosha. The armed citizen not only is able to defend himself as an individual, but this ability also extends protection to others, by deterring would-be aggressors. Why do you think burglars and thieves generally avoid rural areas of “red” America?
In rural America, nearly every homeowner has firearms, and the thief from Baltimore would be a fool to seek victims in Carroll County. The violent crime rate in Baltimore is 18.76 (per thousand residents) compared to 3.76 in Westminster, the Carroll County seat.
The deterrence effect of firearms possession is very easy to understand — criminals prefer unarmed victims — which is why JoJo Rosenbaum’s mental health issues and criminal record are crucial to explaining what happened in Kenosha. Rosenbaum clearly saw Rittenhouse was armed, but evidently underestimated Rittenhouse’s ability to use his weapon effectively. Oops! Too bad for you, JoJo. You guessed wrong.
CNN and MSNBC viewers will not be informed about this essential context, because the Democrats who run those networks don’t want their audiences to be fully informed. Whenever facts contradict the liberal narrative, the facts will be ignored. Sic semper hoc.
Is it any wonder that CNN and MSNBC are losing the ratings contest?
Say hello to Desoni “Lil Theze” Gardner, 20, and while you’re at it, you can also say good-bye, because Lil Theze was shot to death last month at a gas station in Oakland, California. According to Vibe magazine:
Lil Theze was affiliated with Vallejo rap group, SOB x RBE, a group featured on the Black Panther soundtrack with their song, “Paramedic!” Lil Theze rose to fame with his collaboration, “Hashtag,” with SOB x RBE’s Daboii.
To say that someone “rose to fame” implies a level of success and notoriety that I’m not sure Lil Theze obtained during his brief lifetime, but he certainly deserves to be known for the manner of his death.
However much money Lil Theze made after he “rose to fame” as a rapper, his musical earnings were apparently insufficient to meet his financial needs, because on the afternoon of Oct. 21, he and two accomplices were cruising around Oakland in a black 2007 Nissan Sentra looking to rob somebody. They found an intended victim — an older man, driving a white late-model Porsche, who was getting gas at a Chevron station on Castro Street, just off I-980. They chose poorly.
Ersie Joyner, 52, retired from the Oakland Police Department in 2019, after a 28-year law-enforcement career in which he rose from patrolman to captain leading the city’s homicide unit, where he led more than 300 murder investigations. After his retirement, Joyner became a businessman in the (now legal in California) cannabis industry.
Lil Theze and his crew evidently had no idea who they were trying to rob. All they saw was a man pumping gas into a Porsche, and figured he must have some valuables worth stealing. But as an Oakland native who was very familiar with the dangers of the city’s streets, Ersie Joyner certainly would never go anywhere in Oakland unarmed.
Surveillance video captured the outcome of Lil Theze’s final crime. If you’ll watch that video carefully, Desoni “Lil Theze” Gardner is the one dressed in all black, clearly the leader of this robbery gang, who first approaches Joyner. At the five-second mark, the weapon in Gardner’s right hand is visible. Joyner is clearly paying attention to his surroundings, and turns to look at Gardner as soon as he comes around the back of the Nissan. Joyner has his cellphone in his left hand. From that point, about 30 seconds elapse during which Joyner makes no resistance to the robbery, until Gardner opens the right rear door of the Porsche. Joyner then steps back toward the rear of the car, and at the 38-second mark, draws his concealed pistol. He fires first at Gardner’s accomplice in the red hoodie, then shoots Gardner. By that time, the third robber (black coat, white pants) is driving off in the Nissan, and Joyner gets a shot or two off at him before the getaway driver returns fire. Here’s a report from the San Francisco NBC affliate:
Joyner was shot six times but survived. Gardner died at the scene, and police are still looking for the dead rapper’s accomplices.
OPD Needs Help Finding A Vehicle Connected to An
Attempted Homicide
The vehicle is a 2007 Nissan Sentra black, 4-doors tinted windows custom rims, a 49er’s license plate frame with CA license plate 6ATC357.
Anyone who has info is asked to call OPD at 510 238-3821 or 510 238-3278 pic.twitter.com/orA4eaYEW4
The mother of a young man shot dead by a retired Oakland police captain said her son was wrong to rob the man, but questions whether use of deadly force was necessary.
“I want to apologize to everyone in the Oakland community who was affected by that situation,” Trepania Williams told the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday of the robbery attempt on Oct. 21. “But death was not the answer.”
Her 20-year-old son, Desoni Gardner of Vallejo, was identified by authorities as one of three people who tried to rob Ersie Joyner as he pumped gas near downtown Oakland on Oct. 21. Joyner pulled out a gun and fired at the assailants, killing Gardner, before being shot and wounded as the other two suspects fled in a car.
“I understand my son was wrong but he’s already been held accountable,” Williams said. She said she has watched surveillance camera footage of the shootout numerous times and wants more scrutiny placed on Joyner, “who took the initiative to shoot and kill.” . . .
Gardner is the second son Williams has lost to gun violence in just over a year. Her older son, Demazhe Gardner, was killed in July 2020. The brothers were rap musicians and had recorded several songs and appeared in music videos.
You see that the acorns did not fall far from the oak. Evidently, this woman raised her sons to believe that (a) robbery is an acceptable career choice, and (b) it’s wrong for victims to fight back.
Aspiring Rapper North American euphemism for a member of the urban criminal class. This unusual occupation is usually mentioned in conjunction with the subject either being slain or being taken into custody for a violent or property-related crime. A relative of the subject usually points out that the subject’s demise or incarceration comes at an extremely inopportune moment, occurring just as the subject was “turning they(sic) life around.”
The aspiring rapper “rose to fame” and became an expiring rapper.
Popular Louisiana rapper JayDaYoungan was arrested by federal agents Thursday, hours after posting bond in Washington Parish, where he was jailed for five days on counts of drug and weapon possession.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives took the rapper, whose legal name is Javorius Tykies Scott, into custody Thursday. It’s unclear what federal charges he’s facing and, as of Thursday evening, federal court records for the middle and eastern districts of Louisiana showed no criminal proceedings pending against Scott.
However, Thursday’s apprehension marks the fourth arrest since August for the 23-year-old artist, who is known for singles like “23 Island,” “Elimination” and “Opps,” which have together garnered more than 170 million streams on Spotify.
Scott was arrested Aug. 20 for driving recklessly at a high speed with his passenger door open, according to the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office.
After authorities stopped him, police say they discovered Scott had two passengers in the car, including a baby sitting without a seatbelt in a woman’s lap.
Scott was cited for careless operation of a vehicle, no child restraint and driving with a suspended license. He was issued a summons arrest to appear in court.
On Sept. 16, he was arrested by the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office on counts of accessory to second-degree murder and obstruction of justice in connection with a shooting on a trail in northern Tangipahoa Parish a year earlier that left one person dead and two others injured. He was released in less than a week after posting a $175,000 bond.
The traffic stop in Washington Parish happened a month after that.
In addition to the recent arrests, officials say he was jailed April 21 in Coweta County, Georgia, and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, narcotics possession and tampering with evidence. The Coweta County Sheriff’s Office also accused him of having several bottles of codeine cough syrup, oxycodone pills, several firearms and “a quantity of cash.”
According to media reports, Scott was also arrested a couple years ago in Harris County, Texas, accused of hitting a pregnant woman. Police reportedly fond him hiding in the attic. During that arrest, police say they seized $24,000 in cash, oxycodone, promethazine and several guns where Scott was hiding.
Drugs and guns and cash — it’s almost as if there’s a pattern here.
Do you recognize those mug shots? All of them are the same guy — Walter Wallace Jr. of Philadelphia — who was 27 years old when his lifelong criminal career came to an abrupt end last October. Police were called to the Wallace family home for a domestic disturbance, and Walter was shot dead after he charged at the cops with an 8-inch knife:
Police were called dozens of times in recent months about problems at Walter Wallace Jr.’s home, and had responded twice on Monday to reports of disturbances at the West Philadelphia house before two officers answered a third call and shot him as he approached them with a knife, according to law enforcement sources.
What happened during those earlier visits — including which officers responded and how much they knew about Wallace’s mental health problems — remained unclear Tuesday. Asked at a news briefing, Commissioner Danielle Outlaw declined to offer details about any prior contact police had with Wallace, saying the incident remained under investigation.
But the confirmation of previous visits, by sources not authorized to publicly discuss them, raised questions about the police response to what Wallace’s relatives have described as a mental health crisis.
Despite this, Philadelphia taxpayers will pay Wallace’s family:
The city of Philadelphia has agreed to settle a wrongful-death suit filed by the family of a Black man whose fatal shooting by the police last year was recorded on video and prompted widespread protests.
The man, Walter Wallace Jr., 27, had mental health issues and was holding a knife when he was shot by two Philadelphia police officers on Oct. 26, 2020.
The settlement between the city and Mr. Wallace’s family was finalized this week, according to Kevin Lessard, a city spokesman, who said the city was not releasing the figure “without a Right to Know request due to a direct request from attorneys representing the family.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the city agreed to pay the family $2.5 million. . . .
TWO-POINT-FIVE MILLION DOLLARS!
A city spokeswoman said on Friday that, in response to Mr. Wallace’s death, the city planned to equip and train all uniformed police officers with Tasers. The city this year budgeted $13.9 million to pay for the Tasers.
“In addition, Mr. Wallace Jr.’s death emphasized the urgent need for additional support for those with behavioral health challenges and their families,” Mr. Lessard said, adding that the city “can and will do better to address Philadelphia’s inequities in our criminal justice and health systems.”
So, in addition to paying $2.5 million — TWO-POINT-FIVE MILLION DOLLARS! — to the family of the knife-wielding maniac, Philadelphia taxpayers will also shell out nearly $14 million to equip the police with tasers, even though it is unlikely a taser would have stopped Wallace.
All of this, because the state of Pennsylvania somehow couldn’t find room for this dangerous lunatic who had been perpetrating violent crimes on a regular basis since he was arrested in 2006 for assaulting a teacher when he was only 13 years old. Saying he had “mental health issues” is a way for the media to pretend that Wallace was a helpless victim, rather than a lifelong criminal. What are police supposed to do?
More than 1 in 5 people fatally shot by police have mental illnesses, according to a Washington Post database of fatal U.S. shootings by on-duty police officers. Since 2015, when The Post launched its database, police have fatally shot more than 1,400 people with mental illnesses. . . .
Last month the journal Annals of Epidemiology said in an analysis that police are more likely to shoot and kill unarmed Black men who show signs of mental illness than white men who exhibit similar behaviors.
WALTER WALLACE JR. WAS NOT UNARMED! HE CHARGED AT COPS WITH AN 8-INCH KNIFE! PLEASE STOP LYING ABOUT IT!
Excuse me if I seem a bit worked up. Maybe I should ignore the media. Otherwise, the news might drive me crazy and, as everybody knows . . .
