From Boots Riley of The Coup via Facebook

My 21 year-old cousin, Carlos Riley, Jr, was stopped by a cop in Durham, NC

mid morning on December 18th.

During the stop, the cop shouted expletives, physically attacked Carlos,

verbally threatened to kill him and attempted to draw his weapon to shoot

at my cousin.

While attempting to draw his weapon, the cop shot himself in the leg. This

is actually a common occurrence for police while drawing their weapons.

Fearing for his life, Carlos fled the scene in his car. According to the

police, at this point he also took the cop’s weapon and badge away from him

(If this happened, it was a smart move to make sure the cop didn’t shoot

him in the back).

After a few hours, and after Durham Police savagely tore through 3

neighborhoods looking for him, my cousin

called police and turned himself in.

Carlos is now charged with “assault on a law enforcement officer causing

serious injury, robbery with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm

by a convicted felon”. Of course, in a case like this, they would like to

throw the book at him to cover up their own oppressive actions.

This is another case of police brutality, with the twist that this time the

young man who would have been the victim of police murder got away. My

family and I are happy that whatever actions Carlos chose to take that

night obviously saved his life.

We’d much rather have a campaign- to clear his name, get him out of jail,

and expose police brutality- than one that mourns his death as another

victim of murderous police.

In many states, including North Carolina, you have the right to physically

resist unlawful arrest. “Each person has the right to resist an unlawful

arrest. In such a case, the person attempting the arrest stands in the

position of a wrongdoer and may be resisted by the use of force, as in

self- defense.” (State v. Mobley, 240 N.C. 476, 83 S.E. 2d 100).

That being said, we need the help of any folks doing social justice work in

the Durham area to help us expose this case of a victim of police brutality

defending themselves. Message me.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/12/20/2557738/durham-lawyer-says-officers-gunshot.html