The Blue Wall

Monday 24 October 2011 - Filed under Uncategorized

Nah, there’s no such thing as the blue wall or anything.

In the video, Flint Farmer was lying on the grass between the curb and the sidewalk. It was shortly before 2 a.m. on a June morning in the West Englewood neighborhood, and Farmer had been shot by a Chicago police officer. Then, according to the video, the veteran officer, Gildardo Sierra, stepped onto the parkway and walked a semicircle about the prone Farmer as three bright flashes went off.

The flashes, captured by a police car video camera, were fatal shots fired into Farmer’s back, officials say.

That shooting was the third by the officer since January — and the second fatality in those six months, records show.

Sierra fired 16 shots at Farmer, hitting him seven times, autopsy reports show. A Cook County deputy medical examiner, after performing an autopsy and later reviewing the video, said the three shots in the back were the fatal wounds.

Sierra told investigators he feared for his life because he believed Farmer had a gun.

In fact, Farmer was only holding a cellphone.

Despite the video, the Police Department ruled Farmer’s June 7 death justified, just as it had Sierra’s other two shootings this year. But police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said he considers the Farmer case “a big problem” and told the Tribune that the officer involved should not have been on the street given his history of shootings.

Three shootings in 6 months, 2 of which result in a death (one of which blatantly killing a man in cold blood – on video), and there’s no foul play? Methinks theres some foul play happening on many levels here.

2011-10-24  »  madlibertarianguy