BOSTON
'Jail killer cop! Community control of police'
Their demands for prosecution of a killer cop were ignored
by police brass. So on Feb. 3, 150 angry residents of
Boston's Dorchester neighborhood and their allies marched to
the park where police shot Ricky Bodden in the back of the
head on Dec. 27.
Officer Wilcox, the cop who shot Bodden, said he thought
the man was smoking marijuana with his friends. When Bodden
and a friend ran down the sidewalk, Wilcox shot him squarely
in the back of the neck.
Investigators found no drugs. But police allege Bodden had
a gun in his pocket.
Bodden's brother and sister explained that the family's
extensive investigation of eyewitnesses in their neighborhood
affirms that Bodden never threatened the cop. Instead, he was
executed while running in the opposite direction of the cop's
unconstitutional demand that he submit to an unwarranted
search.
The march was organized by Streets is Watching, a group
formed recently to combat increasing incidences of police
violence and harassment, especially toward youths in
Dorchester, Roxbury and other oppressed neighborhoods.
Streets is Watching demanded prosecution of the killer cop
and a civilian review board for police. City Councilor Chuck
Turner called on the crowd to pack a public hearing he's
called to investigate the killing.
Bob Traynham of the International Action Center charged
that there is "an epidemic of racist police murders in this
country."
Nation of Islam members, Bodden's family and friends,
several clergy and many angry neighborhood youths cried out
"No justice, no peace!" after each speaker denounced racist
killer cops.
--Story and photo by Steven
Gillis
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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