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It is beyond embarrassment when news of law enforcement officers gunning down an unarmed civilian comes to the wire. It is a tragedy that should have been just an accident. And yet, it is a scenario that’s repeated over and over and over across the country. Law enforcement officers are turning into “criminals with badges” gunning down UNARMED civilians; they have a license to kill without any accountability and with impunity.

The picture on the left is that of Miyekko Durden-Bosley after being punched repeatedly by Seattle police Officer Adley Shepherd; according to the officer, Ms. Miyekko was verbally abusive – that should definitely justify Officer Shepherd’s action, don’t you think? – Here is the kicker: Ms. Miyekko was handcuffed when Officer Shepherd decided to punch her eyes out; women abuse is bad, unless of course it is done by a “licensed to kill” police officer. Ms. Miyekko suffered a fractured eye bone. Well, Officer Shepherd was justified because Ms. Miyekko was verbally abusive, and kicked him according to the officer. Give me a freaking break! While I am outrageously sarcastic suggesting that Officer Shepherd was justified, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg seemed to think that’s the case; he announced that his office would not bring charge against the officer. Yep! It’s perfectly okay for Police Officers to punch someone’s life out.

There should be no circumstance under which a law enforcement officer is given a pass for behaving like wild animals. We cannot continue to make excuses for law enforcement officers when they commit those types of actions. That is unacceptable in a civilized society.

Since the killing of Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson, there’s been an increase in incidents, some of which fatal, across the nation; a 12-year old boy, Tamir Rice of Cleveland, OH, was shot dead on November 22, 2014 by a police officer within seconds of arriving at a scene where the boy was holding a toy gun – Tamir is one of 14 TEENAGERS gunned down by Police since Michael Brown tragedy; a young man was shot dead in Los Angeles by a Police Officer who mistook his pill bottle for a gun. According to a September 9, 2014 article on Huffington Post, 13 more young black men have been killed by police officers under various circumstances since the Michael Brown’s tragedy.

The primary duty of a law enforcement officer is to protect the citizens of his community; everyone in the community should feel comfortable seeing, interacting with law enforcement officers. Just the opposite is true today, almost everywhere. There is a palpable distrust and disdain for law enforcement officers; and it’s justified most of the time.

The trigger happy law enforcement officers should be taken off the streets, retrained, re-assigned or relieved off their duty, for anything less is unacceptable in a civilized society.

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