Who Does The ‘Thin Blue Line' Really Protect

Three black men, each under 40, were killed by police officers in various regions of the nation in early July 2016.

Alton Sterling, Baton Rouge; Philando Castile, St. Paul; Delrawn Small, Brooklyn.

Small’s case failed to receive the national attention of the other two, yet none of the images captured on video were enough to form the basis for justice which activists sought. Despite millions watching the footage regarded them as confirmation of abuse, time and again law enforcement said the “proof” was not there.

Following three days of deliberation in Brooklyn, NY, a jury cleared Wayne Isaacs of murder charges for killing Small. Small, who had been returning home from a cookout with his girlfriend, her teenage daughter, and the couple’s baby, offers a more powerful illustration of the broad latitude given police officers.

Small’s girlfriend, Zaguanna Albert, testified during Isaacs trial that the cop had twice cut them off in an unmarked police car. Small and his family was traveling Atlantic Avenue in the left lane when Isaacs acted.

A video shown at the trial showed Small approaching Isaac’s car on the driver’s side. Almost immediately Small was shot and fell to the ground. Stephen C. Worth, Isaacs’ attorney, claimed Small had punched Isaacs through an open driver’s side window.

The video showed nothing of the kind.

Even if Small did throw a punch, no rational person could see how that would justify Isaacs taking a semiautomatic handgun and shooting him three times. If two persons got in a bar fight over a Jets game and one threw a punch which led to the other to get a semiautomatic weapon and kill, the shooter would be hard-pressed to find a legitimate claim of ‘self-defense.’

The law in New York requires the use of ‘parallel force.’ Lethal force may be justified when there is a reasonable perception of deadly or extremely violent threat. A punch to the jaw wouldn’t pass the test.

Oklahoma

In Oklahoma which has a stand-your-ground law, an appeals court upheld the murder conviction in a very similar case. In the Oklahoma incident, one man shot and killed another in a parking lot following an episode of road rage involving a car-chase.

Like Small, in New York, the victim got out of his pickup and walked to the assailant who shot, and killed, him from inside the car.

In Isacs’ case, the state attorney general’s office argued that instead of shooting at a man he feared, he could have quietly rolled up his window and driven away.

In Oklahoma, the shooter, who was a civilian gets sent to prison. In New York, where the killer is a cop, the perpetrator gets off scot-free.

White Vs. Black? No. How About Blue Vs. Everyone Else

The jury in Isaacs’ case was demographically mixed. Mixed in age and race, they watched the trial through a different lens.

Isaacs is black. Supporting him in the courtroom were white men in blue and white jackets representing the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.

The jurors saw Isaacs not as an ordinary man on his way home, but as a cop.

The jury gave the police all of the privileges.