Milwaukee: Violent Protests Erupt After Black Police Officer Kills Armed Black Man

Riggs 8/15/2016 2:50 PM

Milwaukee is the scene of the latest social unrest. It all began Saturday afternoon — a familiar clash between police and the black community.

What Happened

23-year-old black man Sylville Smith was killed by a black police officer around 3:30 PM on Saturday afternoon. I point out the races for obvious reasons. Smith and another man were stopped by police and immediately fled the car. Carrying a handgun with 23 loaded rounds, Smith was ordered multiple times to put the gun down as police chased the two. After failing to comply, Smith was shot in the arm and chest. He died on the scene.

Smith’s handgun, plus 500 rounds of ammunition, were stolen in a burglary in March.

There is police body camera footage that, police say, shows Smith clearly holding a handgun during the altercation. The footage has not been released; protesters are rabidly calling for that release.

Here’s Sylville Smith (yes, the overwhelming majority of photos of him on the internet show him holding guns).

The Aftermath

Protests erupted Saturday shortly after the incident in a fashion that’s become all too familiar since Ferguson. Protesters torched 6 businesses, burned cars and threw debris at officers.

Last night, the chaos ensued. One victim was shot and rushed to a nearby hospital in an armored vehicle. An officer was also injured after a hurled rock broke through the windshield of a police cruiser; he too was taken to a local hospital. The National Guard has been called up to handle the situation.

And here is the supposed brother of Sylville Smith.

So those are the facts and that’s the footage. I generally try to get through these with as little commentary as possible. Try to present the facts and the footage, let people catch up on what’s going on, and then make decisions on their own. But what I will add is this: These incidents are clearly not all one and the same. They’ve all different. Sometimes the officer’s at fault. Sometimes the civilian’s at fault. In this case, I think it’s pretty damn clear that if you’re stopped by police, decide to run with a loaded + stolen gun, and refuse to comply with demands as you’re being chased, it’s not going to end well for you. That’s just instinctual. You brought a loaded gun to a gun fight for fucks sake.

And responding to those facts by burning down local businesses, cars, and attacking police doesn’t help. It galvanizes opposition against you; it NEVER rallies support for you.

That’s my 2 cents. Will be interesting to see the body cam footage and how things play out from here. Somebody get Governor Walker on the case — as long as he doesn’t bump his head again, should be able to smoothen over the “coverage” no problem.


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