Last week, ex-police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for murdering George Floyd in Minneapolis just 13 months ago. No one has forgotten the public outcry that was launched immediately after this act of violence. Millions marched, movements rose up in every state and many countries, and a public conversation has continued to this day. For some this is a conversation about race and race only; others want to focus on the reactionary violence and property damage that accompanied some protests.
It is safe to say that those in power are happy to hide behind either of these narratives. As long as American citizens, and the nighttime TV pundits they listen to, are fighting over if violence is ever justified or if discrimination is running rampant, what we aren’t doing is holding the state accountable when they abuse the authority they have assumed.
Officer Charles Langley, who was shouting orders in the moments before Daniel Shaver was killed, retired and moved out of the country shortly after the incident. The shooter, Philip Brailsford, was tried and acquitted of second degree murder in 2017. The full body cam footage was not released until after his trial was over.
In 2018, the Mesa Police Department rehired Brailsford long enough for him to apply for a disability pension due to the PTSD he was experiencing from killing Shaver. He now receives $30,000 per year from city taxes.
Meanwhile, the city of Mesa still hasn’t settled with Shaver’s wife, Laney Sweet, and their two daughters who were left without a dad.
