From [HERE] and [HERE] Legal representatives of the family of Kajieme Powell say they filed a lawsuit seeking financial damages Friday. The 25-year-old was shot and killed by two St. Louis Metropolitan Police officers in August.
The defendants in the suit are the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the two officers involved in the shooting.
Powell was shot outside a convenience store in St. Louis. Powell was shot after police responded to a report of shoplifting. Witnesses have said that Powell left the store after refusing to pay for soft drinks and doughnuts. The young black man walks into a convenience store, shoplifts a few dollars worth of junk food, walks out to the street, puts two sodas down on the sidewalk and gets a little loud, as if to say, “There, I just shoplifted, now what’re you going to do? Shoot me?”
When two white officers from the St. Louis city police pulled up in a squad car and got out, guns drawn, Powell yells at them, “Shoot me now. Kill me now.” Powell refused to drop a small knife he was carrying. In about 15 seconds, the two responding officers start shooting at Powell (six shots each, according to reports), killing him.
White supremacy is carried out through deception and/or violence. Racist cops lie all day, everyday.
The original police account of this incident which was released before the video came out said that Powell had a knife and that, before he was shot, he came at the officers with the knife raised in an "overhand grip.” There are two videos of the incident an amateur video and a police released the camera-phone recording.
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson, racist suspect in video above, said that both of the officers opened fire on Powell when he came within a three or four feet of them holding a knife "in an overhand grip."
But the video undermines the statement, showing Powell approaching the cops, but not coming as close as was reported, with his hands at his side. The officers began shooting within 15 seconds of their arrival, hitting Powell with a barrage of bullets. After he is shot to death the cops handcuffed him.
The white media has already begun to shade out the details. Portraying the white officers as being in imminent danger of being stabbed to death. On Friday, KPLR and KTVI reported that Powell had "robbed a convenience store." A clearly inaccurate statement b/c he allegedly shoplifted a donut and two soft drinks and no allegation was made that he did so by force. Also, Powell had a mere steak knife in his hand, which by definition is not sharp or a deadly weapon. No pictures of the alleged knife have been published by the media and the small knife is not visible on video. Was the steak knife a plastic knife from the convenience store? This is obvious white propaganda to support the decisions of the white cops and thereby justify his homicide.
Jermaine Wooten is the Powell family’s attorney. He says the family wants answers from the police.
“They haven’t gotten any justice and answers from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. They’ve refused to event sit down and even converse about this case, so the only way this family can get that justice is through some sort of financial judgment against this department.”
To the extent that you might be dealing with a racist cop, you should comply with their orders. A racist cop wants you to ignore his commands, respond to his provocation and/or fall victim to your own emotion. For what purpose? To place you in greater confinement (arrest & charge), injure you or lawfully execute you.
The investigation involving Powell’s case is still ongoing. City officials say they have not yet seen the lawsuit and have no record that it’s been filed.
The St. Louis Police Department said they had also not been notified of the lawsuit and it's their policy to not comment on pending litigation.