Excerpt
SUMMARY: In recent days, two incidents have added to national concern about excessive police force against minorities. Police shot and killed a Hispanic man in Washington state, and in Alabama, an Indian man was partially paralyzed after an officer knocked him down. Judy Woodruff talks to Suman Raghunathan of South Asian Americans Leading Together and David Klinger of the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): The issue of how police use force is again making headlines, this time outside the lens of black and white. The Hispanic and Indian-American communities are in the spotlight after separate encounters with police left one man dead and another partially paralyzed.
A warning: This report contains graphic images.
The two confrontations making headlines happened in opposite corners of the country, Alabama and Washington State, first, Pasco, Washington, early last week. This cell phone video captured 35-year-old Antonio Zambrano-Montes seeming to throw something at police and then run away, before turning around with open arms. That’s when three officers shot and killed him.
The police involved say the man was throwing rocks. The community in the majority Hispanic town quickly reacted with protests and a call for a federal investigation. The officers involved are on paid leave. In a news conference yesterday, local police said they want their officers to defuse community tension.
SGT. KEN LATTIN, Kennewick Police Department: And regardless of what anybody might say to you, do the right thing and now, more than ever, show everybody who we are, and that we are — we can be fair, we can be just.
JUDY WOODRUFF: From the Pacific Northwest to the Southeastern U.S. and Madison, Alabama, on February 6. Police car video shows officers confronting 57-year-old Sureshbhai Patel. A neighbor had called 911 concerned about a — quote — “skinny black man” walking down the street.
Patel is from India, visiting his son and grandchild and doesn’t speak English. Officers ask him not to move. Video from a second police car shows a slight movement and then one officer forcefully knocks him to the ground. That action injured Patel’s spine, leaving him partially paralyzed and in the hospital. The family is suing the police department.
COMMENT: Since when is it a crime to just walk down a street? It's a crime in Alabama if you are NOT white.
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