Another name is added to the endless list of innocent lives affected by police brutality.
Aderrien Murray was shot in the chest in his own home by Greg Capers, a Mississippi police officer. Aderrien had to get a chest tube and be placed on a ventilator as he suffered from a fractured rib, collapsed lungs, and a lacerated liver. The officer was responding to a 911 call made by Aderrien. Aderrien’s mother asked him to call the police to address a domestic issue, the father of another one of her children had come home and was causing issues. But, when tending to this call, Capers shot Aderrien, an unarmed innocent 11-year-old boy. There is body cam footage of this incident, however, it has not been released to the public. 
Aderrien Murray
Aderrien told CNN during an interview, “I just tried to follow the police commands but I guess that didn’t work”. Aderrien and his family called the police for protection but it became the source of his trauma. To contextualize what Aderrien said, upon arrival at his house Capers yelled and asked everybody in the house to come out with their hands up, and when Aderrien did the officer shot him in the chest.
Aderrien’s mother voiced that she had no idea what prompted the officer to shoot him. Aderrien’s attorney also stated that there was no chance for Aderrien to be mistaken for the man who was in question. Aderrien’s mom’s other child’s father is almost 6ft tall while Aderrien is only 4ft 10 inches. This is a reckless act of pure negligence. When an officer has access to and possession of weapons that have the potential to kill or cause detrimental harm they need to be conscious and think before they act.
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| Greg Capers |
This incident took place back in May, but Capers was suspended without pay only this past week. Until now, Capers was on paid administrative leave while the investigation was taking place. It took 8 months to have an officer who shot an innocent child on the job suspended and he has not been charged.
Furthermore, it is problematic that this is not the first case of a police officer using one of their weapons to harm an innocent being. According to the Police Violence report over 1200 people were killed by police in 2022. Out of these, “58% of killings by police in 2022 — 682 deaths — were traffic stops, police responses to mental health crises, or situations where the person was not reportedly threatening anyone with a gun”. Additionally, the officer was charged only in 12 of these cases.
Sources:
- Ashley Roselynn Vincent
23 comments:
It is incredibly disheartening to hear of yet another case where an officer was not held accountable. According to an NPR article published just a couple days ago, Aderrien's family is still fighting to publicly release the body cam footage of Capers from 8 months ago, despite demands since the incident. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation previously cited the ongoing investigation, but the grand jury has already reached its decision yet the footage remains concealed. This continued pattern of officers leaving with just a slap on the wrist sets a dangerous precedent that fuels and normalizes those who wield excessive force and erodes public trust in the very institutions meant to protect us.
https://www.npr.org/2023/12/14/1219460589/aderrien-murry-update-shot-no-criminal-conduct-mississippi-police
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/aderrien-murry-family-mississippi-indianola-police-shooting-calls-for-release-of-bodycam-footage/
In addition to diving into the specifics of this event, I like that Ashley offered statistics on the prevalence of police misconduct and the lack of adequate response to it. I think this highlights the issue of inadequate police training and support. While I agree with Ashley's take on how this reminds us of the presence of police brutality, I think this also should reinstate concern for proper police training, mental health maintenance while on the job, etc.
We learned about interest groups earlier this year, and those that tackle police reform include BLM, which helped tremendously in publicizing the reality of police brutality amidst George Floyd's death in 2020. However, that being said, there doesn't seem to be a lot of police reform that has happened since 2020... thus I think it's even more important to continue to publicize stories like Aderrien's to continue to raise awareness toward the issue of police incompetence. Additionally, increasing media coverage of injustices that occur within the police force should heighten interest in the issue, thus provoking change by aiding interest groups and influencing voter opinions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_police_reforms_related_to_the_George_Floyd_protests#:~:text=On%20June%205%2C%202020%2C%20California,local%20police%20departments%20in%20California
I remember hearing about this case months ago, and by the time I even heard about it the media had already moved on, which just goes to show how short the attention span of the media truly is. I think this case in particular shows how deeply fractured our policing system is in the U.S., because why is it that a domestic abuse victim's son, who is calling to ask for help, who is a victim himself, is getting shot at instead of helped? And why was this officer initially placed on paid administrative leave? This is something I can't wrap my head around. Placing someone on paid administrative leave, especially after they commit such an awful act of violence, shows a clear bias towards the officer and upholds a sense of respect surrounding that officer that shouldn't be upheld. Especially after they've shot a kid who clearly looks nothing like a grown man that could potentially be abusing a woman and her children, putting that officer on paid administrative leave maintains a very icky (for lack of a better word) precedent for police officers and shows how little accountability there is in this system.
I agree with everyone else. It really hurts to see police brutality still going on. However, I wonder if there are any major developing interest groups surrounding police brutality. As the trend of police brutality continues to increase, starting with George Floyd and now Adderian, I believe an interest group to lobby for change in Congress may be heavily needed. According to some research I did it seems interest groups like NPAP ( national police accountability project ) do exist but mainly focus on racism surrounding police brutality. I think more light needs to be shed on police brutality in general, not just the race aspect of these acts of unprovoked violence.
https://www.nlg-npap.org/
Like Cody, I agree with everyone who has commented. Even after events that have raised awareness about police brutality such as the murder of George Floyd, the BLM movement, and many more it is upsetting to see that innocent lives are still being taken by police. While writing this comment, I am still left with so many questions. How did Aderrien a 4'10" boy look like a 6' man? How does following orders that the police officer cause him to get shot? Police brutality should never happen and seriously needs be addressed and hopefully fixed one day.
Regardless of whether the cop mistook the boy for the father or regardless of who came out of the house, there was absolutely no reason to shoot because they had their hands up and complied. As you mentioned, Murray said "I just tried to follow the police commands but I guess that didn’t work" - which is extremely scary considering that even if you did everything correctly, your life is still at risk because the guy that's supposed to protect you has a gun, and you can't even be sure their intention is to protect you. The body cam footage still having not being released after eight months is clear evidence that releasing it would be enough evidence to charge the officer and would be extremely bad publicity for the police department. Thank god the kid survived and I hope the family gets a fat paycheck (also considering they most likely had to pay for his medical bills).
It is really sad to see that police brutality is still a prominent problem. Incidents like these have been happening for centuries. However, in light of the 2020 BLM protests, and others since then, I would have hoped that more awareness would have been spread about the detrimental effects of police brutality. It is difficult, because as a police officer, many "accidental" shootings have very minimal consequences. Police officers are protected in their duties by liability. In this case, Capers was not indicted, which is unfortunate because it is unclear whether he will fully feel the gravity of the situation that he caused.
https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/when-cops-accidentally-shoot-someone-what-is-the-consequence-31171
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2023/12/15/mississippi-grand-jury-declines-to-indict-police-officer-greg-capers-who-shot-11-year-old-boy/71929852007/
US Police killing as a proportion of the population is ranked ahead of other developed nations such as Japan, Canada, and the Netherlands by a wide margin. At the same time, American average hours of police training required is 664 hours while Finland, a country which has much less Police killing as a proportion of the population, requires at least 4,500 hours of training. There is undoubtedly a correlation between these factors. To prevent future incidents, police officers must be required to undergo much more training. This requires increase funding for police department to train officers with proper resources for a longer period of time. As seen with other countries, the more training officers undergo, the less police killings there are.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56834733
This is truly disheartening--Aderrien seems like such a sweet kid, but he and his family are so lucky he survived. It's upsetting that it took 8 months for the cop to face some sort of consequence. But the consequence that Caper is facing is the bare minimum because he only received suspension with NO charges, 8 months after!!?! Also, I am wondering if his suspension is only temporary? Will Capers be able to come back into his department?
There are two main problems here, one is how in the world does a "trained" police officer unintentionally shoot a 4'10 boy and also how does the police officer get such away with such a light penalty? There has to be some sort of punishment system so other police officers will learn from the errors of their own. Just placing an officer on administrative leave is nothing compared to the pain that not only the boy has to go through but also to his family. His family who called the police to feel safe not to inflict mass harm. In regards to how the boy was shot I don't understand. When police respond to most calls their biggest concern is is the person who is committing the acts of danger armed. If this event took place at night the police officer responding would 100% have a flashlight beamed at the house or wherever it took place, so how in the world did the cop mistake the boy as a man? I feel like there is no real answer anywhere I look, I just keep seeing "unintentional" which I find hard to believe that a trained cop would unintentionally pull the trigger.
This post highlights the incompetency of police officers as well as the extreme lack of accountability calls into question the credibility of the justice system. I've heard that one can become a police officer with less hours of training than becoming a barber- a quite concerning fact since police officers are supposed to be trained role models who uphold the law. If one can get a badge with less hours than becoming a barber, this highlights a lack of training of police officers and discredits them. To prevent instances like these, people who look to be police officers should be placed under more intense training and more scrutiny to test their character better and lead to more efficient police officers. Furthermore, the movement 'Defund the Police' in my opinion is a quite misleading term- people often mean that the police's budget should be allocated to other sources associated with prevention and safety rather than making their tech and gear more dangerous, and thus more militarized. A more militarized police force doesn't exactly make people feel safe, but actually, down-to-earth officers who try to make a positive impact on their community would be much better. I think this approach should be applied when it comes to police officers because incidents like these should never happen- the incompetency of the justice system and the police in America must continue to be held accountable until they do better.
I think its awful how police are exempt from punishment for committing these actions. We have seen countless examples of police abusing their power and racist profiling of African Americans throughout our country. From George Floyd to Aderrien Murray, an 11 year old boy, police brutality in this country in this country needs to be addressed. What confuses me more than why the kid was shot was how the police man wasn't punished. I'm sorry I don't consider "paid administrative leave" a punishment. When ANYONE shoots an unarmed innocent kid, the shooter at least needs to go to jail and gun privileges revoked. I think someone else already mentioned this in a comment but American police have such minimal training time in order to be certified. This contributed to the number of deaths and injuries like these because you have unexperienced and untrained police with firearms pretending they know the law. There needs to be some change in order to have safer trained people keeping the rest of us safe.
To address Carrisa's line of questioning, I think this is what makes this case extremely disturbing. In other instances of police brutality, even though the probable cause has not always been strong or valid, there has been some semblance of probable cause. I am not saying that the probable causes justified brutality, but at least it existed in some regard. In this case, there is absolutely no reason that prompted the officer to have a gun out and shoot.
Additionally, I agree with everyone's comments about this case highlighting the need for better police training to ensure that police officers are competent and measures to hold the officers accountable for their actions.
I agree with what Nolan said, and I think a lot of the recent police brutality events could have been prevented if police didn't have guns, or were trained to properly deal with situations without violence. Guns should be used as a last resort, not the first thing that police use.
I also think that police should be held accountable and face stricter punishments when they shoot innocent people. It took 8 months to get Capers, who shot an innocent child in the chest, suspended and he hasn't even been charged yet? If he wasn't a cop he would probably be in jail already. There needs to be change to keep innocent people safe from poorly trained police.
This is an extremely unfortunate and frustrating situation. There have been so many tragedies regarding police brutality, more specifically the misuse of firearms, and it's insane to believe that this could happen to anyone at any time, whether you are an adult or just a little kid. In my opinion, while one of the main issues that lead to police brutality is police training, I believe that the main contributors to the problem are the police themselves. I believe that a deeper background check for new police officers should be taken into consideration, as before officially becoming police officers, Stations must check that the person has a good history with firearms. It is important to enforce strict background checks to limit the possibility of danger, as the last thing we want is to have a douchebag dressed as a cop harming society. By enforcing these background checks, I believe that it could help limit police brutality and ensure that we have good people protecting us.
This post raises concerns about the perceived incompetence of police officers and a significant lack of accountability, leading to doubts about the credibility of the justice system. The assertion that becoming a police officer requires fewer training hours than becoming a barber is highlighted as alarming, considering the role of police officers as trained role models responsible for upholding the law. The post suggests that the comparatively low training hours may indicate inadequate preparation for police officers, diminishing their credibility. To prevent such situations, the recommendation is to subject aspiring police officers to more rigorous training and increased scrutiny to assess their character, ultimately aiming for the development of more effective law enforcement professionals.
It's actually crazy how these actual animals get away with such a light punishment after committing murder. In this country, police are there to respond to crime rather than prevent it, which is absolutely twisted and it is really indicative of the flawed nature of the police system in general. It's become very clear in the recent few years that many police officers end up terrorizing minorities in their respective communities. Obviously since recording devices have gotten much more common over the years, many of the closet racist police officers have calmed down to avoid the risk of being caught, but imagine what the case was several decades ago where they can get away with virtually anything without any repercussions or backlash from the public? Fun fact, it only takes around 888 hours of training for someone to become an entry police officer in California, which is not even a percent of what it takes to become something like a doctor, which also deals with human life. We also spend around 315 million dollars a DAY for these people who end up just being plain murderers who do barely anything to actually prevent crime and act like an If then statement in a piece of code. As a side note, yes I do understand that a good majority of police officers are not like this, but it's also imperative to understand that the training curriculum these supposed good cops go through are also engrained and riddled with
subconscious racism. The sad truth is that the entire system is flawed.
https://www.vera.org/publications/what-policing-costs-in-americas-biggest-cities
https://theacademy.ca.gov/basic_police_academy/#:~:text=This%20full-time%2C%20888-,California%20entry-level%20peace%20officers.
This is insane to me. I'm really not able to understand how a police officer could not tell the difference between an adult and a child, even when the height difference is so significant. It still shocks and irks me to know that police brutality is still prominent in the US despite the hundreds of cases that are known worldwide. George Floyd's death united millions of people across the US and is such a well-known case, yet somehow we're repeating history. It seriously terrifies me to see that another innocent child was an unfortunate victim of police brutality. From my understanding, he wasn't even holding or doing anything harmful! In fact, he was obeying the commands of the officer. I'm at a loss for words. What is even more appalling is his joke of a punishment. He should be in jail! He literally murdered a child for no apparent reason. The government is in desperate need of a policy change. We need to hold the police accountable for these incidents. Clearly, the police officer wasn't trying to produce harm, he induced harm himself -- that requires a harsh punishment. He went against the values and purpose of his job entirely. In response to Daigo's point, it takes only 888 hours to become a police officer but to become a doctor takes much more. Both professions share the commonality of protecting the public and saving lives. How is it that one of them get off the hook so easily?
I wish I could say I couldn't believe what I was reading as I read this blog post, but unfortunately, these kinds of headlines and news stories are all too familiar. Police brutality in America is no new thing, and that is what is so scary about this entire thing. The fact that this issue is something so common that it isn't even surprising anymore only highlights the extent of which this problem has come out of hand. I don't know if this is just me, but it's reasonable that we should be able to expect that the people we are supposed to trust to protect us will ACTUALLY do so. That applies to all Americans, not just Americans of a certain color. Even in the chance that this officer mistook this little boy for a fully grown man, the fact that he immediately shot him is completely unjustifiable. The fact that the policeman who shot this boy was a man of color shows that this issue stems from the way these policemen are trained. What needs to be changed is how the police force is run and how policemen are taught. These kinds of headlines need to stop appearing, and the policemen responsible need to be held accountable in the fullest extent.
There are lots of things to say about this, but if I can only say one thing, it would be "This is not normal." We have already established the many flaws in policing, from funding, to qualified immunity, training and systemic racism. It is the same story over and over again, nonstop. Brutality, news, commentary, brutality, news, commentary, brutality, news, commentary. It gradually becomes expected of police officers to be doing these things. Simply cycle that needs breaking. But why do we repeatedly fail to hold those in power accountable and fail to reform facilities that pump out corrupt and racist cops all the time. Stories like these seem like just the symptom of the problem rather than the root. Imprisoning Derik Chauvin won't cease this systemic problem.
Many solutions also have been proposed, yet our federal government have made little progress in making reforms. Our question is: How do we get them to start doing so?
This is incredibly alarming to me especially because after 2020, you would think you would see a LARGE decrease in police-related killings and instances of police brutality but in reality, the people in power tend to win. It’s also incredibly disheartening to see the last few sentences of statistics saying that out of 1200 cases of similar instances, only TWELVE officers were held accountable. Again, after 2020, you would expect to see a sharp decline in these types of careless killing and implications of power but these seem to be more swept under the rug now which is really unfortunate. Recently, the paramedics who administered ketamine to Elijah Mccain who also died in the hands of power were sentenced and found guilty after FOUR YEARS which is incredulous. The sentencing and acts of being found guilty/non guilty are alarming in these types of cases such as this one because most officers aren't even tried to begin with and when they are, you don't see much justice being served. This case would be a good example because not only did he get PAID leave but he only got an 8 month suspension which does not align with the lifetime of trauma Aderrian will endure.
I find the case of Aderrien Murray deeply troubling and distressing. The fact that an 11-year-old innocent child was shot by a police officer in Mississippi while seeking help for a domestic issue is utterly heartbreaking. This incident highlights a significant problem in law enforcement where the response to a distress call led to severe harm to a young, unarmed individual.
While interest groups like the National Police Accountability Project (NPAP) exist to address aspects of police brutality, there's a pressing need for a more extensive and inclusive focus on the issue. Moving forward, cases like Aderrien Murray's must not fade into obscurity. They demand continued attention, rigorous scrutiny of law enforcement actions, and a commitment to holding accountable those responsible for unwarranted violence in our communities. Swift and fair justice is imperative not just for Aderrien and his family but for restoring faith in the very institutions meant to ensure public safety and protection.
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