POC WHO’S LIVES WERE TAKEN TOO SOON— A THREAD

akiel denkins, he was only 24, he was a father to the baby you see in this picture. he had a troubled life that he continuously tried to rise above. in 2011 aged 19, he walked into a NTN outreach center, wanted to pursue a GED get a steady job.

in 2016 he fled from arrest because he feared for his life. he was unarmed. the officer didn’t hesitate to shoot akiel 4 times. the officer was never charged. SAY HIS NAME!

gregory gunn, he was only 58. montgomery police, according to their statement, “approached a suspicious person & a struggle ensued”. he was unarmed. he was murdered february 25th, 2016 in his own front yard. he pounded on neighbors windows yelling for help. SAY HIS NAME!

samuel dubose, he was only 43. he was pulled over at a traffic stop. he was missing a license plate. samuel was asked for his drivers license, which he refused to give and refused to get out of the car. according to cincinnati police officer ray tensing, that was grounds to shoot

his defense was that he feared being dragged under the car as samuel drove away. he was let out of jail after paying 10% of a million dollar bond. TEN PERCENT. SAY HIS NAME

brandon glenn, he was only 29. according to LAPD Officer clifford proctor, he saw brandon’s hand on his partners holster. after reviewing security footage from near shops, brandon’s hand was nowhere near the holster. he was unarmed and murdered. SAY HIS NAME!

freddie gray, he was only 25. when freddie was taken into the back of a police van in 2015, he was retrained with handcuffs and leg irons but no seatbelt. his neck was BROKEN in the back of a police van. his death set off the 2015 baltimore riots. SAY HIS NAME!

natasha mckenna, she was only 37. her hands were cuffed and her legs were shackled but she was still shocked FOUR TIMES by a stun gun. she suffered from mental illness. she was in the custody of fairfax county jail when she was murdered. SAY HER NAME!

christian taylor, he was only 19. he played football at angelo state university. he was unarmed when he was shot and killed in a SUSPECTED burglary in arlington, texas. police officer brad miller pursued christian without alerting his supervising officer. SAY HIS NAME!

michael brown jr, he was only 18. he was a kid. he was gunned down by a white police officer in ferguson after stealing cigarillos from a small convenience store. the shooting resulted in weeks of riots and protests in ferguson.

august 9th 2014 officer darren wilson responded to a reported robbery, and encountered michael and his friend dorian walking down the middle of the street. officer wilson blocked them with his police car, after that a struggle ensued through the window.

officer wilson fired his gun which caused michael to run... officer wilson FOLLOWED HIM. AN UNARMED 18 YEAR OLD BOY. when michael finally stopped and turned around to face the officer, officer wilson repeatedly shot michael in the front. michael was murdered. SAY HIS NAME!

laquan mcdonald, he was only 17. chicago police officer jason van dyke and his partner trailed laquan for over half a mile, from a trucking yard where it was suspected he was breaking into vehicles. the officers radioed for a taser in order to apprehend laquan, who they said was-

carrying a knife in the middle of the road. security camera footage from nearby businesses has proven this false.according to the footage officers arrived 10 minutes after the radio call, and within 21 seconds officer van dyke emptied his 16 round hand gun. SAY HIS NAME!

tamir rice was only 12 years old. officers timothy loehmann and frank garmback responded to a call about a black male sitting on a park swing pointing a gun at passersby. the caller expressed doubts it was a gun and said it looked like a kid. within two seconds-

of arriving to the park, officer loehmann shot tamir TWICE. he was only a kid. tamir’s “weapon” was later found out to be a toy. he still attended middle school. SAY HIS NAME!

sean bell, he was only 23. he was scheduled to be married the morning after his fatal encounter with NYPD officers in 2006. he was behind the wheel of a car outside a strip club where his bachelor party had been held. they approached sean amid concerns that someone in his-

bachelor party had a gun on them. officers opened fire, saying that sean rammed his car into one of them. they said they identified themselves as officers and showed their badges, accounts that were disputed by witnesses in his trial.

sean left behind two daughters and a soon to be wife, SAY HIS NAME.

trayvon martin, he was only 17. he was visiting relatives in florida in february 2012. george zimmerman was a neighborhood watch coordinator for the gated community trayvon was visiting. before zimmerman encountered trayvon, he had called the police several times

whenever he came across anyone who seemed suspicious while making his rounds in the neighborhood. on this specific night, zimmerman observed trayvon as he walked back to the community after visiting a nearby convenience store to get some skittles.

at the time he saw trayvon, zimmerman was driving around on personal errands. zimmerman called the non emergency sanford police number to report a suspicious person. some actual quotes from the phone call MADE BY GEORGE ZIMMERMAN;

“this guy looks like he is up to no good like he’s on drugs or something.” “this guy is real suspicious he’s just wandering about looking at all the houses” “these a**holes, they always get away”

zimmerman saw trayvon start to run, understandably so seeing as zimmerman was following him in his car. he told the dispatcher he was following trayvon and the dispatcher clearly said “WE DON’T NEED YOU TO FOLLOW HIM SIR”.

a violent encounter ended up happening between george zimmerman and trayvon martin. this led to trayvon being shot TWICE. HE WAS 17. HE WALKED TO GET A SNACK. SAY HIS NAME!

sandra bland, she was only 28. she was stopped by a state trooper because she simply moved out of his way, as you’re supposed to for police cars and ambulances etc. he wrote her a ticket. he asked her to put her cigarette she was holding out, she said no. he ordered-

sandra out of the car, she refused. he shouted at her, threatening to yank her out. he even attempted to yank her out. she resisted. he pulled out a stun gun and said “i will light you up”. she got out of the car. they fought more verbally until she was handcuffed and arrested. -

this woman sat in a county jail for THREE days... for nothing. she ended up hanging herself on july 13th 2015. SAY HER NAME!

stephon clark, he was only 22. he was the father of two little boys. he was at his grandparents home when two police officers rolled up on him while looking over the neighborhood for a man who was breaking into car windows.

the officers only gave stephon FOUR SECONDS to comply with their commands before shooting him TWENTY TIMES. killing him in his grandparents backyard. MURDERING HIM.

a sacramento sherif said stephon was armed with a crowbar. do you wanna know what they found when they rolled over his dead body? A CELLPHONE. A CELLPHONE DOES NOT GET MISTAKEN FOR A CROW BAR. HE WAS UNARMED. HE WAS INNOCENT. RACISM STILL EXISTS. SAY HIS NAME.