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Indybay Feature

Fight Back Against Racist Police Terror

by Natasha Duncan
Family of Shantel Davis, Unarmed Black Woman Killed by NYPD, Stands in Solidarity with the Victims of Racist Police Policies in Anaheim

We in The Shantel Davis Committee for Justice and Beyond in Brooklyn understand racist police killings aren’t just an event isolated in New York City. Therefore we should build in solidarity wherever the cops senselessly murder our black and Latino youth. Too many of those youth have had their lives cut short. We say enough is enough! From New York to California, fight back against racist police terror!
The family of Shantel Davis and The Shantel Davis Committee for Justice and Beyond support and are in solidarity with the victims of racist police policies in Anaheim. Anytime and anywhere racist police policies kill communities we feel it. We express our deepest condolences to the families and friends who have lost loved ones. It is the hope of our family that justice doesn't only come because of rebellion but that the authorities actually do their jobs and hold police accountable for the shedding of blood!

Shantel Davis, 23, was a black woman unjustly murdered by N.Y.P.D (New York Police Department) Detective Phillip “Bad Boy” Atkins on June 14th, 2012 in Brooklyn. The District Attorney here has not indicted Detective Atkins.

Detective Atkins earned the nickname “bad boy” by terrorizing members of the mainly black and immigrant Brooklyn community. The Detective has an unrevealed number of misconduct complaints lodged with the police’s Civilian Complaint Review Board. Atkins has also has six federal civil rights lawsuits filed against him, four of which have cost New York City more than $224,000 in settlements and two of which are still open.

Police say Detective Atkins and his partner pursued Shantel Davis in an unmarked car after Shantel ran several red lights and crashed the gray Toyota Camry she was driving into a minivan on the street intersection of East 38th Street and Church Avenue. Detective Atkins then got out of the police vehicle, reached into the Camry with his gun drawn and shot Shantel in the chest. A woman told ABC 7 Eyewitness News on camera that “[Atkins] told [Shantel] to get the F out the car. But I guess she couldn’t come out so they shot her.” Witness Hans Mencor told DNAinfo.com, “After [police ordered Shantel out], it was like, boom!” said Mencor, referring to the sound of a gun firing, “They shot her inside the car.” Witness Winston Vernon told CBS New York that the police then dragged Shantel onto the street, handcuffed her and refused to revive her or get her medical attention. Witness George Ricketts told The New York Post Shantel begged for her life, “She hollered, ‘Call the ambulance! Please don’t let me die’.” Dozens of bystanders collected images of the incident. But unlike in Anaheim, police succeeded in confiscating the cameras and cell phones of most taking pictures or video as well as all security camera footage from the surrounding area.

Like police in Anaheim, the N.Y.P.D. blamed the victim of racist police brutality and branded Shantel a criminal in the media. The truth is Shantel Davis was never once convicted of any crime despite having numerous arrests. The police claim that on June 14th, Shantel reversed the crashed Camry twice, twice striking Detective Atkin’s partner with the passenger side door. But one unnamed witness told CBS New York, “She did not try to put no car in reverse,” the witness explained, “They were already on her, she had nowhere to go.” Multiple witnesses told City Council Member Jumaane Williams that the car only moved in reverse because the cops put the car in reverse and Shantel, unconscious and bleeding to death, had her foot on the accelerator.

Rallies at the intersection where Shantel was murdered and marches to the nearby 67th police precinct have been held every Saturday since Shantel’s death. We in The Shantel Davis Committee for Justice and Beyond in Brooklyn understand that these racist police killings aren’t just an event isolated in New York City. Therefore we should build in solidarity wherever the cops senselessly murder our black and Latino youth. Too many of those youth have had their lives cut short. We say enough is enough! From New York to California, fight back against racist police terror!
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