Dr. Williams, a trauma
surgeon, professor at Howard University College of Medicine
and Toledo resident, is the co-chairman of the NMA’s Gun
Task Force, which was formed to be “helpful to those
impacted by unnecessary force,” he says. The Task Force has
been particularly active since the death of Michael Brown in
Ferguson and the ensuing highly-publicized police shootings.
Now comes the Breonna
Taylor shooting and the recent grand jury decision not to
pursue charges for what the police did to Taylor, only for
what happened to a surrounding apartment. Dr. Williams notes
that there are three critical issues that need greater
examination.
First, “at the time of the
entry, was there a legitimate warrant in place?” asks Dr.
Williams. He mentions that at any given time of such a
search and entry, the validity of warrants can change.
Second, “When the
boyfriend was arrested, what was the conversation that
allowed him to be released without being charged?” The
puzzle here, for Dr. Williams, is that if the officers were
not charged for any wrongdoing in the Taylor apartment, then
the boyfriend logically must have been in the wrong for
shooting a police officer who was presumably lawfully
carrying out his duties.
Third, how was it a
“mistake” to shoot Breonna Taylor six times? Once, perhaps,
is a mistake. Twice could even be a mistake. Six times?
As a result of the
shooting, the following is the NMA statement that Dr.
Williams co-authored.
The National Medical
Association Statement on the Breonna Taylor Grand Jury
Decision
The National Medical
Association (NMA) shares in the anger and distress felt by
communities of color over a grand jury’s decision not to
indict police who killed Breonna Taylor. Once again, the
grand jury system has failed to value the life of an African
American. Local jurisdictions continue to show their
inability to independently investigate and prosecute, when
indicated, cases of law enforcement use of excessive and
unnecessary force. The NMA calls for independent
investigations in all instances of police shootings and
calls for the Department of Justice to evaluate the Breonna
Taylor case.
The National Medical
Association proudly stands with most Americans in affirming
that Breonna Taylor’s life mattered. She was a cherished
family member. As a technician in the emergency department
she spent her life caring for others in need including
members of the law enforcement community. Her life came to a
premature end after an unnecessary and unprovoked encounter
with police in her home.
The unfortunate reality is
that Breonna Taylor is dead most likely because she lived in
a community where the families of the judges who issue
No-Knock Warrants and the police who execute them do not
live. To disregard the set of discriminatory circumstances
that make Breonna Taylor’s death a reality is to ignore the
structural racism that so many African Americans die as a
result of daily. It is this systemic racism deeply embedded
both in our legal and law enforcement systems that allows
African-Americans to be too often excluded from
well-established police protocols and judicial precedents
while often being subjected to arbitrary and capricious
behavior.
The NMA supports the
Department of Justice’s clarification of the police
execution of No Knock Warrants which says, “…such a warrant
does not entitle officers to disregard reliable information
clearly negating the existence of exigent circumstances when
they actually receive such information before execution of
the warrant.”
The NMA supports Breonna
Taylor’s 4th Amendment rights to be secure in her home and
supports the Supreme Court’s extensive history of legal
regard for an individual’s domicile enshrined in the words,
“the overriding respect for the sanctity of the home that
has been embedded in our traditions since the origins of the
Republic.”
Breonna Taylor not only
died but she did so without receiving immediate health care
for her gunshot wounds. She was not given the care that she
spent her life giving to others. The NMA rejects the formal
notion that there is no accountability for the death of
Breonna Taylor and asks the Department of Justice to
evaluate the case.
The NMA also supports the
George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and asks the members of
United States Congress to pass the legislation.
The NMA is the largest and
oldest national organization representing African American
physicians and their patients in the United States. As the
collective voice of African American physicians and the
leading force for parity and justice in medicine; the NMA
has long asserted police excessive use of force as a public
health issue and has published both a position statement on
police excess use of force and a position paper on urban
violence in minority communities. The organization is
committed to addressing issues of social determinants,
structural violence and systemic racism that fosters an
environment that leads to the disproportionate policing of
communities of color.
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