I don’t usually blog about the latest news, particularly when there is no economic content. But I happened to be driving in suburban Maryland and listening to the car radio as the story broke on Thursday afternoon. Friday morning’s Wapo reports,
A woman with a 1-year-old girl in her car was fatally shot by police near the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, after a chase through the heart of Washington that brought a new jolt of fear to a city already rattled by the recent Navy Yard shooting and the federal shutdown.
I think this is a good way to write the lead sentence. It gets to the fact that a woman was killed, which is sad. And it gets to the fact that security issues in DC are really top of mind.
From the first report I heard, about half an hour after the shooting, my instincts were that the woman was mentally ill and that she was black. This was before it was reported that there was a child in the car, and long before the woman had been identified. Why were my instincts what they were? Perhaps because mental illness has been on my mind, just because I’ve encountered some sad cases recently. Or perhaps the actions of the driver just sounded like someone mentally ill.
And I guess my instinct that she was black was based on a presumption that the police would not have been in shoot-to-kill mode with a white woman. I am not saying that I consciously thought “the police would shoot a black woman, but not a white woman.” All I know is that the image that popped into my head was that of a black woman, and I think the reason that it did is that I had a harder time picturing the police killing a white woman.
Given these instincts, I felt uncomfortable listening to the reporters on the radio heaping praise on the police and expressing gratitude for how quickly and effectively they had secured the situation. The reporters were proud of the police and happy with the outcome. My instinct was that it was a misunderstanding and a tragedy. I am not saying that the police were necessarily unjustified in what they did. One can argue that they acted appropriately under the circumstances as they understood them (what if the woman was a threat to detonate a bomb in the car?).
My final thought: had this woman taken her mental illness anywhere but near the President and Congress, my guess is that she would be alive and getting treatment.
I too was sickened by the way in which reporters and politicians heaped praise on the capitol police force, I had not considered the race angle, but a number of other factors disturbed me:
1. All the shots fired were by law enforcement officers – this was not communicated. So all of the fear and panic generated by this incident was created by law enforcement.
2. Law enforcement arguably put the public at greater risk by firing ~17 shots in an urban environment than the driver of the car did.
3. I’ve noticed a disturbing pattern recently where police put themselves in a dangerous position – then justify their use of deadly force because of the dangerous position they placed themselves in. i.e. Lady fleeing in a vehicle who previously “rammed a barrier” – instead of immobilizing the car (tire spikes, another car, roadblocks barriers) police approach on foot surrounding the car – should the car now try and escape again it has become a “deadly weapon” “necessitating” the use of force. Essentially the implementation of tactics that predictably reduce possible scenarios that include a broad spectrum of non-lethal resolutions to simply compliance or death.
4. An overemphasis on unlikely scenarios. Yes the driver of the car could have been a car-bomber but what are the odds? isn’t it vastly more probable that at the time of the incident that the driver of the car was having a breakdown, perhaps was drunk or on drugs, had an outstanding warrant or was awol, a teenager on joy ride…the list goes on.
5. Can we acknowledge that should you drive in any direction from the White House you will be heading towards some “sensitive” building institution (embassies, agencies or departments, land marks, etc.)
6. Driving in DC is a total pain and getting a car near a sensitive building is practically impossible unless you are driving a tank – let the stanchions do their job.
The point of the list above is not to impeach the actions of law enforcement – the shooting of an unarmed woman with her child in the car may have been justified. However, I thought it unseemly to applaud and thank a police force that killed a woman that posed what seemed to be a minor risk – and who could have been dealt with differently.
“I think the reason that it did is that I had a harder time picturing the police killing a white woman.”
Your paragraph describing your presumption that the driver was black, and that police were more likely to shoot a black woman than a white woman is puzzling to me.
When I heard/saw the first headlines of this event, it never occurred to me to think about the race of either the driver or the law enforcement personnel who were involved. Why would it? And why on earth would you ever think that police would be more likely to shoot a black woman? Is that reflective of what you think of D.C. police and/or SService, or what you believe of the D.C. population, or what?
Are we sure she hit the barrier on purpose? According to news sources, she wasn’t from D.C. Perhaps she became confused, got into an accident, and then panicked when police officers surround her car and pointed guns at her.
ColoComment–
“Your paragraph describing your presumption that the driver was black, and that police were more likely to shoot a black woman than a white woman is puzzling to me”
You’re obviously a foreigner who doesn’t understand this country. When you get home ask some black Americans if you ever meet any.
Everybody Else –
The key point to me is that at the start of this mess she backed up and injured a cop on foot. So the message that would have gone out to other cops was “Officer down.” Later on, a police car was disabled by striking a barricade. So now the cops know they’re after someone who wounded a cop and took out a police car, and it’s just obvious that shooting to kill is justified.