With the overwhelming amount of E3 news that flooded my feed this past week, I hadn’t had the chance to talk about anything as far as the drug war these days. I’m sure some of you recall my post about a drug raid gone awry when police shot a man’s two dogs in front of his wife and child. Their actions left a family traumatized and grieving over a beloved family pet, all because the cops were in search of marijuana. They ended up finding only one pipe with a little weed resin in it.
This month hasn’t been good, either. This past Friday, the American government’s devastating drug war claimed another victim. 21-year-old, father-to-be, Trevon Cole was shot in the bathroom of his apartment by police officers after they claimed that he made “a furtive movement. Cole was not armed.
The victim’s fiancee, Sequoia Pearce, shared the apartment with Cole and was present during the raid. Now, the nine-months-pregnant girl must now make plans for her future baby without the father.
“I was coming out, and they told me to get on the floor. I heard a gunshot and was trying to see what was happening and where they had shot him,” Pearce told KTNV-TV.
… According to Pearce and family members, Cole had no criminal record, had achieved an Associate of Arts degree, and was working as an insurance adjustor while working on a political science degree at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. He was not a drug dealer.
“Trevon was a recreational smoker. He smoked weed, marijuana. That’s what he did,” she told KTNV-TV. “They didn’t have to kill him. We were supposed to get married next year, plan a black and white affair,” she said. “He was all I ever knew, we were gonna make it.”
This story particularly frightens me because it really hits close to home. My long-term boyfriend and I share a place and happen to be recreational peace-loving pot smokers. I couldn’t imagine the pain I’d feel if some fucking cops busted in here and gunned him down. Morbid thought perhaps, but this is happening every day… So, who’s to say that it can’t happen to me or you?
Speaking of drug raids, here’s another recent story of police canicide. A 62-year-old grandmother in Washington, DC claims that police came to her home serving a drug warrant for her 28-year-old grandson. The grandma asks if she can put her dog in the back yard or perhaps, in the bathroom. The cops allow her to stick the canine in the bathroom. Later, the cops open the bathroom door, claim that the granny’s 13-year-old dog named “Wrinkles” attacked them, and they shoot it multiple times.
But, what about the drug dealing grandson and all of the deadly amount of drugs? Turns out, the grandson hasn’t lived there for several years and the only drugs that the cops found were what they claimed was “drug residue” on some baggies. The grandma swears the residue is left over from fortune cookies.
We may never know.
In all seriousness, please take a moment to sign the petition at Cops Say Legalize Drugs to protest the cruelty of the unnecessary killing of pet dogs by police during encounters with citizens.
