7-year-old Aiyana Stanley Jones And America's Deadly Police Forces

Detroit, Michigan police officers are not different from other officers on American police force. This is particularly so when it comes to their quick and reckless use of deadly force during encounters with the residents of the areas they patrol.

Take for instance Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley who on May 16, 2010, "during a raid on the wrong apartment", murdered 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley Jones by shooting this child in her head using a "MP5 submachine gun."

Despite an indictment of this officer, Wayne County prosecutors have twice failed to obtain a conviction against Weekley on charges of manslaughter and reckless discharge of a firearm. In 2013, a trial took place but ended in a deadlocked jury.

Ironically, during the second trial that took place in October 2014, the presiding judge Cynthia Hathaway dismissed the mere serious charge of manslaughter. She declared there was not sufficient evidence to continue prosecuting this police officer. The firearms charge is nothing but a misdemeanor offense punishable by fine or a few most maximum in jail.

It's worthy of you to note a few additional things. First, Officer Weekley and other members of the SWAT unit were accompanied by a cable television crew filming for a "for-profit" series on Detroit homicide investigations. The flash grenade thrown through the window where Aiyana and her grandmother were sleeping hit Aiyana and burned her. Seconds later, Aiyana suffered shots to her head as Weekley and his SWAT unit rushed into the child's bedroom.

In 2003, the city of Detroit was the subject of two federal consent decrees after a three-year Department of Justice investigation found egregious violations of civil rights committed by officers who used excessive force and necessary deadly force. Despite these findings, the degree to which any actual and significant improvements were made in police-community relations remains subject to debate, in light of the gravesite where 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley Jones's body was laid to rest.

If the Department of Justice fails to recognize the murder of this child as sufficient proof of its ineffectiveness when it involves Black lives, what will it take?

When the people's demand for justice is mentioned, it must include the name of Aiyana Stanley Jones among the "victims" of America's killer cops.

Sources of additional information:
1.) PoliceWatch.com
2.) DetroitFreePress.com
3.) DOJ 2003 Consent Decrees - Detroit Police Department
4.) WayneCountyCircuitCourt.com