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Carey Wedler

December 16, 2014

(TheAntiMedia) TEXARKANA, TX- On Tuesday, a Texas police officer in Texarkana shot and killed Dennis Grigsby, a 35 year old man holding a spoon. Officer Brent Lawing was responding to a burglary call and found Grigsby in a “dimly lit” garage. He lived in his mother’s home across the street.

Grigsby’s mother, Evelyn Grigsby, said he had a mentall illness, though it has not yet been specified what it was. Police say her son was holding a “7-inch metal object that looked like a knife” and began “aggressively” approaching the officer. According to the police story, he ignored commands to stop, prompting the officer to shoot him. Grigsby later died at the hospital.

This police narrative follows one that is all too common: no matter the situation, police claim that they were forced to attack suspects. They promote the idea that if a suspect was doing something illegal, they deserved whatever the officer did to them. Officers claim their lives were threatened, people were acting dangerously, and that because of this, they bear no responsibility for the deaths of the people with whom they interact.

Never mind that the Texas officer could have used other, less lethal methods to stop Grigsby’s advances or that even in a “dimly lit” room, the round edge of a spoon looks nothing like a pointed knife. Police claim he was holding the round edge in his hand with the handle pointing up, but at best, this resembles a butter knife.

At the very least, police departments should employ officers with decent vision. At most, they should fire those who jump to use lethal violence when it is entirely unnecessary.

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Fortunately, however, police talking points are becoming less and less believable to the public. Similar stories of officers harming citizens — particularly the mentally ill — have surfaced in the last several months.

In November, a Florida cop killed a man whose mother called the police to help him take his medication. In Cleveland, police slammed a bi-polar woman’s head against cement, killing her for “disturbing the peace.” A group of Michigan cops opened fire on a mentally ill homeless man, executing him firing squad-style. The case of schizophrenic homeless man Kelly Thomas, who was beaten to death by multiple cops, is infamous for the jury’s refusal to convict the officers. They were caught on video bludgeoning the man, who was crying for his father.

Apparently, police are “poorly trained” to deal with the mentally ill (some claim this is the reason cops kill so many of them, though this does not explain the rates of murder by cops of other demographics). But as the case of Dennis Grigsby shows, police are quick to react to weapons that are not actually weapons.

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A Colorado man was arrested for pointing a banana at police, who claimed they thought he was pointing a gun. Cops are notorious for shooting when people they stop reach to their pockets for their wallets. John Crawford and Tamir Rice were both killed for holding toy guns.

It is increasingly apparent that cops use unmitigated authority and violence against the weakest and most disenfranchised in society. As repulsive as it may be, however, awareness is steadily growing and intolerance for such outlandish displays of police aggression is snowballing.

The Texas Rangers are currently investigating the case of Dennis Grigsby and more “official” details are expected to emerge. In the meantime, the officer is on administrative leave.

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