Black Lives Matter blockades NY Ave, Chinatown after hearing for killer cop

Video-Blocking NY Ave and Chinatown for Terrence Sterling

On the 11th of April, MPD officer Brian Trainer had administrative hearing concerning MPD's internal review board's finding that he should be fired for shooting motorcyclist Terrence Sterling on Sep 11, 2016. The evening after the hearing, Black Lives Matter DC, SURJ-DC, No Justice No Pride, and others blockaded NY Ave and Chinatown to remind Mayor Bowser that letting killer cops walk carries a price tag.

That price tag includes lost shopping business in Chinatown, and it includes the angry drivers of some very expensive cars who find the can't get back to their million dollar condos past the spot where Terrence Sterling was killed. By comparison, more than a few African-American drivers honked in support of the protest and raised the V-sign or other supportive gestures. One sign in the protest read "Fire TraIner or Bounce Bowser. Bowser has offended a large number of DC'S Black voters, and the price tag for her support of police brutality and murder could very well include being DC's third one-term mayor in a row.

Even MPD's own internal review board(the one they themselves control)has ruled that Ofc Brian Trainer's choice to pull his gun and shoot Terrence Sterling "was not in defense of his life nor was it in defense of the lives of others." His earlier decision to chase Brian's motorcycle with his police car was also a violation of MPD's own "no-chase" rule. He is on leave but has not even lost his job. By comparison, had Terrence Sterling had access to a gun, used it to shoot Brian Trainer, and somehow avoided being shot on the spot, he would been held without bond until a trial that could be years after the incident. Brian Trainer is not in jail at all, in fact he is on VACATION for essentially the same offense! This case is therefore a shocking example of a double-standard in "justice." It shows how there is one standard for police and quite another for the city's African-American residents.