Police Accountability

"It don't make no sense or nothing but they took him out and that was wrong," added Farrow's aunt, Rosemary Farrow. "Why did it happen? You know that's a kid," she said. “One way or the other we're going to get to the bottom of it and justice is going to be served."

You may remember the twelve-year-old boy, DeAntae Farrow, who I mentioned in my group's presentation. His story is tragic and really struck a cord with me. Unfortunately, his story is also painfully typical of how the justice system in the nation handles these situations. Using Farrow’s case as a framework, I will express some criticisms concerning our criminal justice system. 

On June 22, 2007, DeAntae Farrow was walking home with his older cousin. Farrow was holding a fake gun, and for this reason, he caught the attention of two undercover West Memphis police officers who were staking out a nearby convenience store. The officers dressed in civilian clothes emerged from around the corner of the convenience store with their guns drawn. When Farrow didn’t respond to the officers warning to drop his “gun” Officer Erik Sammis shot him twice. According to his cousin Farrows last words were “It’s just a toy.”

The response from the community was electric and powerful. 1,500 people attended his funeral where famous civil rights advocate Reverend Al Sharpton delivered a eulogy. A crowd marched to the city hall demanding answers from the mayor as to what exactly happened on the 22nd. A tribute of toys, flowers, and letters was erected at the sight were he was killed.  Officer Sammis and his partner we suspended with pay while an investigator from the Arkansas state police investigated the criminality of the incident. Let’s pause for a second. 

The fact that police are investigated for misconduct by officers from their region is a massive conflict of interest. Police officers have a reputation for having a fraternity of sorts. Similar to the US Military Police officers see their coworkers as brothers. The nature of their job being so dangerous means police have strong bonds with their comrades and a deep respect for fellow officers even if they have never met them before. Unlike the US military which has an entirely separate organization (the military police) to investigate misconduct police department across the country rely on internal investigations. One might be tempted to think that police as honorable human beings would be honest about whether or not their “brothers” were breaking the law but if one looks at the statistics, this doesn’t seem to be the case. The comedian John Oliver (a surprisingly reliable source) was able to find data about how many police officers have actually been charged after a fatal shooting. Because no government organization keeps a record of how many people are killed by Police every year, the best numbers we have are from the Washington post and the Guardian each records of the average of around 1000 death per year in the United States. Extrapolating this since 2005 their have been around 11,000 people killed by police. Of those shootings, only “75 officers have been charged with manslaughter or murder since 2005.” Only 26 were convicted. This “suspiciously” low number as Oliver puts it is representative of the preferential treatment officers of the law get when accused of homicide. 

Let’s continue. Was Sammis one of the 26? No. “The officers were placed on paid leave. Both were cleared by state prosecutors and an internal investigation by the West Memphis Police Department.”  Sammis was cleared of all charges despite the fact that when his police recorded was released under pressure from outraged West Memphis citizens it showed a significant history of questionable conduct. Sammis was briefly suspended in 1998 for causing a car crash and again in 2000 for insubordination. Sammis was fired from his first police department in northern Little Rock in 1994 for and undisclosed “violation of policy” only to be hired by West Memphis in 1996. Time for another side note.

The abysmal state of record keeping and record sharing among police departments has been a constant thorn in my side as I've been researching this topic. As it turns out there a numerous procedures in place that allow records such as complaints of brutality, accusation of corruption and even sexual assault accusations to be removed from officers personal files. In some cases, this can be done in a matter of months. Another Police practice which I was surprised to learn disturbingly common is moving police officers from one department to another to avoid having to deal with disciplinary consequences. In the Tamir Rice case in which another 12 year old was killed, the Police officer responsible had been hired by the Cleveland police despite resigning form their previous department while in the process of being fired for misconduct and unstable mental health. These are the kind easily avoided oversights that lead directly to unqualified and dangerous police officers being allowed back on the streets. I am not saying that officer Sammis is an example of this but simply stating that this is a problem in the US justice system that could relatively easily be fixed. Now let’s wrap up the story. 

Sammis resigned from the force and received a small severance package stating that he was resigning to seek better financial situation for his family. In that resignation letter, Sammis concludes: “the Arkansas State Police investigation, the independent prosecutor investigation, and the WMPD internal investigation have all cleared me in this tragic event. I am leaving this department knowing that I did the right thing… I am leaving behind one of the best trained and tested tactical teams in the region with whom I will always be loyal.” Farrows mother subsequently filed a multi million dollar law suit which she lost. DeAntae or “tae tae” as he was known to his family has largely faded from national memory as his loss has been overshadowed by more recent and even more unacceptable examples of Police officers killing African American children. Next year will be the tenth anniversary of DeAntaes death and I hope that citizens, police officers, and politicians will honor his memory by making 2017 a landmark year in police reform. 

So please let me know what you think in the comments. Do you think Sammis was justified? Or should he have been prosecuted? Had you heard of the Farrow case before? What kind of message does this send to young African American children in Memphis? Thank you for reading.