Black Americans, Racial Profiling and Police Brutality in the United States of America in a ‘Post-Racial Era’
2025 Report on the United States of America: Black Americans, Racial Profiling and Police Brutality in the United States
In recent years, US media coverage has played a pivotal role in shaping public discourse around the experiences of Black Americans with law enforcement. Relying on this coverage, I have documented the epidemic of law enforcement brutality against American women in the United States.
The Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Systemic Racist Police Violence Against People of African Descent in the United States, present media coverage, and the incidents researched below clearly demonstrate an ongoing struggle to reduce lethal police encounters in the United States.
- **Please note that this report is a working review that is subject to future updates and is not an exhaustive list of all incidents.
ASSERTIVE STATEMENT ON JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY
I feel it is imperative for us to emphasize the rigorous standards upheld by credible sources. Thus, in this report, each piece of information presented has undergone meticulous fact-checking and has been cross-referenced against multiple sources and articles. The Society of Professional Journalists underscores the unwavering duty of US journalists: to disseminate accurate information with unwavering integrity. They are also bound by a commitment to truth, ensuring that their work is thoroughly vetted before it reaches the public. Deliberate distortion of facts or context is anathema to their professional ethos. When errors do occur, US journalists must promptly acknowledge them and rectify them transparently.
BLACK WOMEN & POLICE BRUTALITY
Christina Pierre
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers encountered Christina Pierre and Anthony Lee, both Black individuals, seated at a bus stop. The officers alleged that Pierre and Lee were smoking marijuana, prompting them to approach the couple.
Despite Pierre and Lee denying any illegal activity, the situation escalated when the officers attempted to effect an arrest. During this encounter, the officers accused Pierre of striking one of them. In response, the officer reportedly punched her in the face and delivered several blows while she was on the ground.
However, video footage from multiple angles reveals a different perspective. It captures the officer forcefully jerking Pierre’s left side, attempting to take her to the ground. Meanwhile, her right arm swayed uncontrollably as she struggled to maintain balance.
Daysheion R. Ponds
On January 28, 2024, a video emerged, initially published by The Kansas City Star, capturing a distressing encounter between Daysheion R. Ponds, a Black woman, and several officers. The incident unfolded in the Power & Light District over a disputed bar tab amounting to less than $50.
The video shows an officer smothering Ponds’ face into the ground, and disturbingly, referring to her as an “animal.” The officers took ponds was taken to a private room, where the door was closed. The exact events during this period remain undisclosed. However, subsequent images to the incident reveals Ponds with a swollen eye.
Kianna Cooper
Kianna Cooper, an African American woman, sat in her car engaged in conversation with her mother when an officer approached. The officer, without explanation, demanded she exit the vehicle and then proceeded to use physical force against her. Cooper found herself arrested and facing charges of battery and resisting arrest. When the body-worn camera footage of the incident went viral, the charges were dropped.
In the aftermath, both the victim and her mother courageously spoke out after discovering that the police officer responsible was still actively serving on the force. Their voices echoed the urgent need for accountability and reform within law enforcement systems.
Bermeeka Mitchell
Officer Blayne Newton, a law enforcement officer with a controversial history, faces a lawsuit filed by Bermeeka Mitchell, a Black pregnant woman. The incident occurred during an arrest, when Officer Newton used excessive force against Mitchell. Despite Mitchell not being charged with any offense, there is currently no record from the department regarding the actions taken to sanction the officers involved.
Malia Ashad
During a court hearing at the Alameda County Superior Court on August 9, 2022, Malia Ashad found herself in a distressing situation. A woman against whom Ashad had a restraining order launched an attack, repeatedly striking her in the head and face with a cellphone and her fist. In an act of self-defense, Ashad instinctively grabbed the woman’s hair, attempting to halt the assault. However, the situation escalated further when sheriff’s deputies intervened. Body-worn camera footage of the incident show police officers assaulting Ashad, which reports suggest knocked her unconscious.
LaTanya Griffin
Reports indicate that Okaloosa County police used a battering ram to break into LaTanya Griffin’s home, forcing the unclothed innocent woman outside to be handcuffed.
La’Nisha Hemingway
In May 2024, La’Nisha Hemingway was detained by North Myrtle Beach Police officers at gunpoint, and placed in handcuffs, despite one of the cops realizing her vehicle did not fit the description of a suspected car thief.
Black Women Are Unseen Victims of Police Brutality
In an insightful opinion piece, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw highlights the often overlooked reality: Although Black women experience police brutality, their experiences remain largely unseen.
In the Shadows on the War on Terror: Persistence Police Brutality and Abuse of People of Color in the United States, Andrea J. Ritchie and Joey L. Mogu reported that across the United States, sexual abuse by local, state and federal law enforcement officers remains one of the United States’ dirty little secrets. Building on the Ritchie and Mogu’s findings, Michelle S. Jacobs stated in her paper The Violent State: Black Women’s Invisible Struggle Against Police Violence, that Black women are raped and sexually assaulted by US police officers and remain invisible victims of such crime. They also found police rapes of Black Women are under-reported, under-investigated, and under-prosecuted in the United States.
Despite constituting approximately 10% of the female population in the U.S., Black women and girls face a disproportionately higher risk of being killed by law enforcement. Data collected by Crenshaw between 2013–2017, found 57% of Black women who law enforcement killed were unarmed. While statistics are still be gathered for the years after 2017, the data cited underscore the tragic stories of over 200 Black women who have fallen victim to police violence, as documented in the powerful book titled “Say Her Name: Black Women’s Stories of Police Violence and Public Silence,” published by the African American Policy Forum . The urgent need for awareness, accountability, and systemic change cannot be overstated.
BLACK WOMEN & LETHAL POLICE VIOLENCE
Niani Finlayson
In a heart-wrenching incident, a Black woman named Niani Finlayson lost her life during a domestic violence altercation involving a Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy. Finlayson had dialed 911, urgently reporting that her boyfriend was physically assaulting her. When law enforcement swiftly arrived at her residence, they encountered a tense situation.
Finlayson, gripping a knife, expressed her intent to protect her daughter, who had allegedly suffered repeated harm at the hands of her ex-boyfriend. The body-camera footage show law enforcement fatally shooting Finlayson mere seconds after entering her home. While law enforcement officers are authorized to use force when faced with threats to themselves or others, the video highlights a high-pressure, split-second decision where alternative de-escalation methods could potentially have been employed to prevent this tragic outcome.
CHILDREN & POLICE BRUTALITY
Avarious Thompson
In a deeply troubling incident, Avarious Thompson, a 14-year-old teenager with autism, endured repeated tasing in his own backyard, resulting in injuries. Shockingly, Thompson was not the intended suspect. As officers grappled with the situation, uncertainty clouded their judgment: “I don’t think this is him, bro. This might not be him.” The incident underscores the critical need for law enforcement to exercise utmost caution and precision, especially when dealing with vulnerable individuals.
Redacted Teen
In his incident report, Clark County School District police Lt. Jason Elfberg documented an unsettling encounter involving a redacted teenage student and an offer kneeling on his back. Officers were handcuffing another student during an investigation into a reported gun brandishing, and another Black student was documenting the incident.
During the same incident, another student, who had been handcuffed by the police for jaywalking, drew a chilling parallel. He likened the situation to the tragic killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for nearly 10 agonizing minutes. The echoes of Floyd’s death reverberated through this school encounter, raising critical questions about police conduct and the impact on young lives. Curiously, no gun was ultimately found.
Redacted Child
According to the Miami Herald’s Julia Marnin, a Louisiana police officer is accused of hitting the 15-year-old in the face with a taser and handcuffing him. In the same article, the teen claims the officer tackled his older brother and repeatedly hit him in the face. Complaints have also been brought against approximately three officers for violating the dignity and the rights of the child by subjecting him to a strip-search, in what has been called the “Brave Cave” — an offsite interrogation warehouse used by law enforcement to humiliate and debase citizens. The use of the Brave Cave shows a lack of respect for the population, diminishes their human dignity, arouses feelings of fear, anguish and inferiority within the community, that is capable of breaking the citizen’s moral and physical resistance.
California Study
In 2021, a ground-breaking study conducted in California revealed alarming disparities in Black boys and girls being sent to the intensive care unit due to police violence among compared to their White counterparts.
- Black boys between the ages of 15 and 19 experienced the highest rate intensive care unit admittances resulting from encounters with law enforcement.
- However, the most significant racial gap was observed in the 10–14 age group, where Black boys and girls were injured at 5.3 and 6.7 times the rate of their white peers, respectively.
OTHER INCIDENTS OF POLICE VIOLENCE
Redacted Child
Frank Williams, a 30-year-old police officer with the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD), faces serious charges. He has been accused of felony physical abuse of a child and felony strangulation and suffocation. These allegations come to light through a criminal complaint obtained by Newsweek. The case underscores the importance of accountability and transparency within law enforcement agencies.
Tyre Nichols
The most recent headline is the death of Tyre Nichols, a Black man who the Scorpion Unit stopped and brutally beat earlier this year. On January 10, Nichols succumbed to his injuries. Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills, Jr., Emmitt Martin III, Justin Smith, Tadarrius Bean and Preston Hemphill, were among the officers involved in Nichols death.
Daryl Vance
A Detroit police officer, who is Black, was charged with manslaughter after reportedly punching a 71-year-old man during a verbal confrontation that escalated. The man fell, hit his head on the pavement, and tragically passed away from his injuries weeks later.
BLACK MEN & POLICE BRUTALITY
A video was uploaded to New Jersey News which shows a New Jersey officer slapping a Black man across the face. He then proceeded to strike him with a flashlight. Finch, who has been on the job for nearly 20 years, is also accused of trying to cover up the incident. For instance, reports indicate Finch did not turn his body camera on for this call. The mayor says that he is doing everything he can to “separate” Finch from the force. Reports further reveal Finch has been accused of excessive force before, which the city had to pay hundreds of thousands in the case.
TRUMPED-UP CHARGES AGAINST BLACK AMERICANS
Roshuanda Merritt
Councilwoman Roshuanda Merritt asked the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office to intervene against someone who had allegedly posted inappropriate photographs of her on social media. Merritt allegedly sent a photo of four THC-infused gummies packages with the text message: “Let me know if anyone wanted to purchase said gummies,” according to an arrest warrant, the AJC reports. Merritt was arrested on Jan. 19 and charged her with a criminal attempt to commit the sale of marijuana and use of a telecommunication facility to facilitate a felony. “They charged her with conspiracy, except nobody knows what those pictures were. Are they THC or CBD or gummies out of a Captain Crunch box at the store?” her attorney said.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: NO CHARGES,
JURY ACQUITTALS AND LENIENCY FOR POLICE BRUTALITY
Manuel Ellis
Three Tacoma police officers were cleared of wrongdoing and offered $500,000 each to resign in the Manuel Ellis case.
Tacoma police officers reportedly stopped Ellis on allegations that he harassed a woman on the street and became aggressive when confronted. This confrontation led to Tacoma police officers shocking, choking, and hogtying Ellis in police custody.
At trial, Tacoma police officers refuted the allegations that Ellis died of excessive force, forwarding the argument that his cause of death was due to drugs. However, this account was contradicted by three witnesses who testified that after a brief conversation with Ellis, the officers in question threw open the car’s passenger door, knocking Ellis to the ground.
In the video, Ellis can be heard addressing the officers as “sir” and telling them he was struggling to breathe. However, the response Ellis received was a “shut up” from Tacoma police.
Khalil Azad
The State of Minnesota has declined to bring charges against officers in relation to the death of Khalil Azad, who died in 2022. CBS News and Fox 9 reported that Azad sped away from police at a traffic stop and started driving in the wrong direction, which led to a crash. Azas then fled on foot into a wooded area, where he vanished.
Azad’s body was spotted two days later in a lake. According to reports, an autopsy determined that his cause of death was allegedly accidental “freshwater drowning.” Despite these claims, Azad’s family believes there was foul play, as the autopsy showed Azad was wounded by police and had dog bite marks on him.
Charges Dropped Against Multiple Officers in Police Brutality Cases
Texas prosecutors dropped 17 of the 20 indictments against Austin police
officers who used tactics during the 2020 protests that followed George Floyd’s killing.
As I present the next factual account of a tragic incident involving lethal violence at the hands of police, it is essential to recognize my stance as an abolitionist of the Second Amendment. I firmly advocate for the removal of guns from our streets, aiming for a safer and more compassionate society. As you read this story, please keep this perspective in mind. — Quianna Canada
Failure to Reach a Guilty Verdict in the Casey Goodson Case
In Ohio, a jury failed to reach a verdict in the 2020 murder of Casey Goodson Jr., who a former Franklin County Sheriff’s Office deputy fatally shot multiple times in the back outside of Goodson’s family’s Columbus home that December. Four years prior, the same deputy was assisting the U.S. Marshals in search for a fugitive — who was not Goodson.
The deputy asserted that he observed Goodson brandishing a firearm inside his car and chose to trail him to his grandmother’s residence. While Goodson’s family acknowledges that he possessed a license to carry and does not dispute the possibility of him having a firearm, they maintain that he was clutching his keys and sandwiches in his hands, all while wearing AirPods in his ears.
While some police officers are convicted, evidence demonstrates they are given light sentences. For instance, in October 2023, a former Minneapolis police officer was sentenced to 15 days in the county workhouse, with eligibility for electronic home monitoring, after pleading guilty to assaulting a Black man during the unrest that followed Floyd’s murder.
Greg Gunn
The Equal Justice Initiative reported that on the morning of November 25, 2016, a police officer shot Greg Gunn seven times and killed him on the front porch of his neighbor’s home.
According to EJI, Mr. Gunn had been walking home from his friend’s house, where he was playing cards and subsequently stopped by a police officer.
At trial, the officer confessed to beating Mr. Gunn with his baton and tasing him multiple times before chasing him onto the porch and shooting him. While the officer claimed that the shooting was justified because Mr. Gunn allegedly picked up a paint roller, no evidence support this assertion. For instance, the officer did not activate his body camera or his dash camera, even though he was required to do so.
Based on the information obtained from EJI, In 2016, the officer was indicted for the murder of Mr. Gunn. However, the Montgomery Police Department did not fire him. Instead they placed him on administrative leave, where he continued to receive full pay for the next four years.
However, last week, Attorney General Marshall released the police officer from prison, going directly against the wishes of the victim’s family.
***This is a developing report.
