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| Photo: Courtesy of Gerald E. Rose |
On Tuesday, March 24, 2015, Smyrna Police Sergeant Kenneth Owens killed unarmed, twenty-three year old Nicholas Taft Thomas at his work in Smyrna, Ga. Smyrna and Cobb County police came to Nicholas’ job in an extreme show of force to allegedly serve a warrant for his arrest.
Letter highlights: We are concerned citizens in solidarity as the Nicholas Thomas Justice Coalition (NTJC). We are standing with the Nicholas Thomas family, asking that our fair and just demands be met within 48 hours.
Immediate demands:
Investigation of the case now by a special grand jury and special prosecutor. We do not trust any law enforcement agencies investigating themselves or their peers.
Release of the facts regarding the case, including the exact nature of the warrant being served and surveillance video footage. It has been over a month since Smyrna Police Officer Kenneth Owens killed Nicholas Thomas, and the family and community are still looking for answers. This information should have been released within the first week.
Answers to why several agencies and such a show of force were used to arrest Mr. Thomas
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| NTJC members |
Long term demands:
We want an immediate end of racial profiling stops without reasonable suspicion.
We want an end to arrests without probable cause which is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
We want immediate stop of arrests for minor and bogus offenses, including an end to practices labeled as “broken window policing”, “sweating the small stuff”, “stop and frisk”.
We want community control and oversight of police.
We want past Cobb County Police excessive force, abuse of power, and other cases reopened where
Fourth Amendment rights were potentially violated over the past ten years. We want these cases
investigated by independent agencies not connected to Cobb County.
We want new leadership of law enforcement agencies that reflect both the racial and ideological
diversity present in communities.
We want enhanced, ongoing sensitivity and diversity training for law enforcement.
The information in this post was provided by NTJC.
Will says: Tomi, I just got home from being away all day and read this. It's about time someone takes a strong, hard look at our police force across the country. I realize all of them are not bad because I have had dealings with some decent policemen. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/smyrna-vinings/2015/03/25/protests-coming-nicholas-thomas-shooting/70458432/
ReplyDeleteTake a peek at all of his mugshots. When they went to arrest him for violating many of his probations he stole a customers car and was driving it towards the police (he already was charged last year w/ assaulting a cop). And they are surprised their son got shot? SMFH
Ok Anonymous Police Officer...before you shake your head and cast aspersions perhaps you should come out from behind your blue cloak of anonymity like an honest citizen...or are you afraid of black folk. (By the way, I'm white). If you did your homework you would find out that young Nick Thomas had a string of minor charges, and even the so-called trumped up "major charges" by police were not considered so by the district attorneys as he was given probation (likely because they see this everyday,as anyone who is conscious and doesn't have their head in the sand does---a gross disproportion of young black men harassed, stopped, arrested and charged for bogus offenses that young white men get away with every day!) It is called the criminalization of communities of color, and eventually the rest of us. So just about everyone has a mugshot or, if you are a person of color, a string of them, and that means nothing today. Secondly, again, anyone who cares to investigate, as I have done, will find that he did not steal a customers car nor did he drive towards the police (as eyewitnesses will testify). And last, if he really assaulted a cop last year do you think, combined with his past offenses, he would be out on probation--of course not, the DA saw that that was another bogus charge by the police who charge anyone who doesn't comply with their gestapo tactics with obstruction, resisting, or assault (especially if the target is black). So if you really want to SYFH you will investigate as I have done and realize that we/you are justifying the killing of our own youth by the police state here, a much greater threat than any ISIS or external threat. You will also SYFH at the fact that GA has the highest percentage of its people on probation than any other state and the U.S. more people incarcerated than any other nation in history. And then, maybe then, you will realize that you, and I, are brainwashed slaves on plantation Amerikkka--the difference being that I am finally breaking my shackles.
DeleteHT says: Unfortunately, this is always the manner in which they have justified killing young unarmed Black people. There simply remains no credible excuse.
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