#2880: Rage at Shooting Mother: Why must cops kill black people? (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:nozier@tradewind.net

Rage at Shooting Mother: Why must cops  kill black people? 
By ROBERTO SANTIAGO, MARTIN MBUGUA and DAVE GOLDINER  Daily News Staff
Writers

>From a mother's uncontrollable grief to growing anger in the Haitian
community, outrage spread yesterday over the police shooting of unarmed
security guard Patrick Dorismond."Someone killed my son," wailed Marie
Dorismond, an immigrant from Haiti, struggling to stay on her feet.
"Police killed my son. Why do police have to kill black people?"       
Grief-stricken relatives helped her stand as she spoke amid the        
windblown snow outside her apartment building in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
"My son was never a criminal. My son never robbed nobody," Dorismond
said. "Why do the police lie about my son?" The shooting Thursday night
has renewed accusations that the Police Department too often targets
minorities while aggressively fighting crime. Dorismond was killed
during a buy-and-bust operation by undercover narcotics cops outside a
cocktail lounge on Eighth Ave. near W. 37th St.Dorismond, 26, who worked
for the 34th St. Partnership, became angry when one of the cops asked if
he knew where they could buy marijuana.During a struggle, Detective
Anthony Vasquez's pistol went  off. The bullet hit Dorismond in the
chest, killing him.Police officials said Dorismond provoked the
confrontation, striking out at an undercover officer. And Police   
Commissioner Howard Safir on Thursday revealed that Dorismond had been
arrested as a juvenile and twice more as an adult.Yesterday, the Rev. Al
Sharpton and other black activists accused police of trying to smear the
slain man by releasing his brief record of minor arrests ? one of which
took place when he was 13."I have an 18-year-old son. He's a blackbird
ready to be shot  down," said the Rev. Carolyn Sperduto of Pathfinders
 Ministries. "Every black man is a target."
Sharpton and others also called for Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch
to investigate the killing. "Another unarmed man shot for no reason, on
his way home from work with money in his pocket," Sharpton said. "The 
mayor says we should not jump to conclusions. He ought to tell the
police to stop jumping to conclusions." Lynch, who is investigating
whether the Police Department  engages in a pattern of brutality,
declined to comment. A spokesman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Mary Jo
White said she would monitor the case. In the Haitian community, anger
quickly spread yesterdayafter people heard that the slain man's last
name was Dorismond ? a common Haitian surname."The cops have a license
to kill black people," said JeanCleophat, 35, of Flatbush. "The Diallo
cops are free, somebody else in the Bronx got shot, and now this. It's
not going to end."Callers flooded Creole-language talk station Radio
Soleil with complaints about the police shooting. Haitian civic leaders
also joined a chorus of outrage and held a meeting last night to       
discuss the situation. "How many times should they come out to say it's
a tragic mistake?" asked Herold Dasque of Haitian Americans United  for
Progress. "Every month, they are killing one of our  brothers."        A
steady stream of customers denounced the police as they arrived to pick
up orders of Haitian steamed fish, lamb and  beef with plantains at the
Timalice restaurant on Glenwood  Road in Flatbush."We had Louima and
then Diallo, so we have the right to believe that black people are
targets," said manager Gesner Seloque, 63. "We're afraid that could
happen to us at any  moment."In the lobby of Marie Dorismond's building,
about 25 blocks away, neighbors erected a makeshift memorial of flowers,
candles and poems to the slain man."Patrick, we love and never forget
you," one handwritten note read.At the news conference outside, his two
little daughters ? ages 5 and 1 ? were dressed in their Sunday best as
their mothers held them.Later, away from the microphones, an emotionally
spent Marie Dorismond walked up to the memorial in the lobby,which
included the front page of yesterday's Daily News with her son's
photograph."Patrick," she screamed at the image, "your mother will fight
for you."