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figures illustrate how disproportionately black Americans, who make up just 13% of the countrys total
population according to census data, are killed by police. Composite: Guardian Design
Black Americans are more than twice as likely to be unarmed when killed during
encounters with police as white people, according to a Guardian investigationwhich
found 102 of 464 people killed so far this year in incidents with law enforcement
officers were not carrying weapons.
An analysis of public records, local news reports and Guardian reporting found that
32% of black people killed by police in 2015 were unarmed, as were 25% of Hispanic
and Latino people, compared with 15% of white people killed.
The findings emerged from a database filled by a five-month study of police fatalities in
the US, which calculated that local and state police and federal law enforcement
agencies are killing people at twice the rate calculated by the US governments official
public record of police homicides. The database names five people whose names
have not been publicly released.
The Guardians statistics include deaths after the police use of a Taser, deaths caused
by police vehicles and deaths following altercations in police custody, as well as those
killed when officers open fire. They reveal that 29% of those killed by police, or 135
people, were black. Sixty-seven, or 14%, were Hispanic/Latino, and 234, or 50%, were
white. In total, 102 people who died during encounters with law enforcement in 2015
were unarmed.
The figures illustrate how disproportionately black Americans, who make up just 13%
of the countrys total population according to census data, are killed by police. Of the
464 people counted by the Guardian, an overwhelming majority 95% were male,
with just 5% female.
Steven Hawkins, the executive director Amnesty International USA, described the
racial imbalance as startling. Hawkins said: The disparity speaks to something that
needs to be examined, to get to the bottom of why youre twice as likely to be shot if
youre an unarmed black male.
Relatives of unarmed people killed by police in high-profile incidents during the past
year including Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tony Robinson and Walter Scott
described the Guardian project as a breakthrough in the national debate over the use
of deadly force by law enforcement.
Giving this kind of data to the public is a big thing, said Erica Garner, whose fathers
killing by police in New York City last year led to international protests. Other incidents
like murders and robberies are counted, so why not police-involved killings? With
better records, we can look at what is happening and what might need to change.
The initiative was also praised by a range of policing experts and by campaigners who
are urging government authorities to make the official recording of fatalities mandatory
for all 18,000 police departments and law enforcement agencies operating in the US.
Its troubling that we have no official data from the federal government, said Laurie
Robinson, the co-chair of Barack Obamas task force on 21st-century policing. I think
its very helpful, in light of that fact, to have this kind of research undertaken.
The oldest, 87-year-old Louis Becker, was killed during a collision with a New York
state trooper patrol car in upstate New York. Eighty-two-year-old Richard Buddy
Weaver was killed by Oklahoma City police after he allegedly raised a machete at an
officer who opened fire; neighbors later described Weaver as having schizophrenia.
The three youngest people identified were all 16 years old. Adonte Washington, a
black American, was shot dead by Millbrook police officers in Arizona on 23 February
during an alleged burglary after the teenager was described as pointing a weapon at
arriving officers. His family have questioned the police narrative, while the city mayor
described the shooting as 110% justified.
A week earlier, on 14 February, Jason Hendrix, a white 16-year-old was shot dead in a
gunfight by Baltimore County police after the teenager murdered his mother, father
and sister in Corbin, Kentucky, and drove to Maryland, where he is reported to have
opened fire on an officer after a car chase. Six returned fire and killed him.
A month later, on 19 March, black 16-year-old Kendre Alston was shot dead by a
deputy of the Jacksonville sheriffs office in Florida. Police claimed Alston fled from a
stolen car and brandished a weapon at the pursuing official who then opened fire.
Deneane Campbell, Alstons mother, claimed in an interview two weeks later she had
not been given any further details by police.
Some relatives of people killed by police said they had been unaware of the dearth of
publicly available information on police-involved fatalities until their family became
affected. Anthony Scott, whose brother Walter was shot dead in April by police officer
Michael Slager in North Charleston, South Carolina, said the lack of public information
came as a surprise.
I was not informed, I was not aware, I just had an idea these situations were
happening in the United States, Scott told the Guardian. The public need to know
what is happening and be made more informed. With them being more informed they
would be able to react differently, in a positive way, to make changes, to make sure
some of these things dont happen again.
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