On Feb. 21, an off-duty cop for the Los Angeles Police Department in Anaheim drew his weapon and fired in the direction of a group of minors. All of this was caught on tape. The altercation began when a group of kids were walking home from school, and allegedly walked unto the officer’s lawn. In the video, the officer is seen grabbing and dragging a 13-year-old Chicano by the hoodie. The boy was heard pleading for the man to let go. In the video it is never stated that the man is an off-duty police officer, and as he is dressed in plain clothes, the boy he assaulted has no reason to believe the man other than his own word. Other kids gathered around and tried to help the 13-year-old boy get out of the man’s grip, and a 15-year-old boy rushed the man in attempt to get him away from the boy. After this, the man pulled out a firearm and shot in the general direction of the children that were gathered. The most surprising thing about this is that the grown man who assaulted a minor and put children’s’ lives in danger was not faced with any charges or threat of arrest. While the victim of his harassment and the 15-year-old boy who tried to help him were both arrested on charges of battery and assault.
This poses a problem, and the issue was faced with much opposition around Anaheim. There were protests and marches outside the officer’s house in order to voice the anger of the community. This has to do with white supremacy and systemic racism in the United States of America. The only reason a grown man who assaulted a child and fired a weapon at children could be seen as the victim is because he is white and the children were Chicano. There is no doubt that if the roles were reversed, and the child was white and the adult was a black or Chicano man, he surely would have seen at least one night in jail. This, however, was not the case, and the officer who committed this crime against these children walked free without any consequence even after putting a child’s life on the line. People on both sides have argued back and forth about who was really in the wrong in this situation. Whether the kids were actually going through the man’s yard has not been determined, but even if so, does that justify a bullet flying towards them? Or does being a white man in a position of power give him a license to kill in America?