De’von Bailey
Preface:
I understand full heartedly that
this article is showing up several months late to the game as De’Von Bailey was
killed nearly seven months ago. But rest assured the fashionable lateness is
intentional. This article is the beginning of a series in which I would like to
re-address topics that have fallen off the media’s radar but have not yet received
their proper closure in certain cases. Keeping in mind with the fact that The
Second-String Debate Team’s audience is still relatively small, I don’t know how
profound of an impact that these articles will have on the world of journalism.
However, I do know for certain that absolutely nothing is achieved in silence.
**********
On August 3rd, 2019 De’Von
Bailey, a nineteen-year-old resident of Fountain, Colorado was fatally shot by
two police officers. It wasn’t until after both officers pulled the trigger on
De’Von Bailey, that he was found to be armed. He had a pistol tucked into the
front of his shorts. This discovery was made as the officers began enacting
their detaining procedures and also attempting to provide aid to Bailey, but to
no avail, as his lungs filled with blood and he died in the middle of the
street. This shooting gained traction quickly in the Colorado Springs media
circuit because of Bailey’s age and the fact that the officers were not aware
of the presence of a weapon on Bailey’s person until it was ultimately too late.
While stories like this are somewhat of a regular occurrence nowadays, this
particular instance made a decent amount of noise in the media because of what
the officer’s body cam footage exposed about the incident.
The footage begins as the officers are
responding to a 911 call. The call was regarding an armed robbery in which De’Von
Bailey and one other young man were suspected of committing. De’von Bailey and
his potential accomplice were being questioned by one of the officers (the one
wearing the body camera) as the second officer enters frame from behind Bailey.
Bailey seems to take notice of the second officer and immediately cuts a hard-right
turn and takes off at a full sprint down the street. Both officers quickly
react to Bailey’s attempt at evasion and match suit by chasing him down the
street. The officers instruct him to stop several times, to which Bailey did
the opposite. They responded to his negligence towards their commands by firing
several shots into his back. Bailey fell to the ground and the officers
proceeded to search the victim. During the body search of Bailey one of the
officers is recorded saying the most damning phrase he possibly could at the
time, “He’s got a fucking gun.”
Those that support De’von Bailey and his family
in this instance believe that the knowledge of him possessing a firearm should
have preceded, not followed, the use of lethal force by these officers of the
law. Those that take the side of the Colorado Springs Police Department believe
that the officers were justified in their killing, because it appears that
Bailey reaches down the front of his pants (possibly to draw his firearm) while
the officers are in pursuit. And the media shaped the public discourse around
this issue by turning both sides of an ethical argument into a partisan-based
nightmare. Right leaning news outlets went with their typical talking points
rooted in subservience to police always being the correct answer. Whereas the
left leaning sources did what they do best and focused in on the fact that
De’von was African American and didn’t really branch their defense of the
victim much farther from his ethnicity. This kind of agenda driven media
coverage provides no resolution to the victim, the family, or the officers.
Instead they are now just talking points that are doomed to slip into
obscurity.
Even though Bailey’s story did escape the
confines of the local news circuit and receive a good deal of mainstream media
coverage, the story quickly fizzled out from the public eye as both of the officers
were found to be justified in the shooting. And while this may seem like the
ultimate form of absolution. This story is still far from reaching resolution.
As previously mentioned, it wasn’t
until after De’von had already been shot multiple times, one of the officers
says in the video, “He’s got a fucking gun.” This not only implies it confirms
that they killed this young man on the speculation of a firearm and because he
ran away from them. They ended his life on the pretense that he was reaching
for a gun in his pants. And if that evidence was good enough for a
court-of-law, then so be it. That cannot be changed. What can be changed is the
accountability towards those who are ultimately responsible. That
responsibility and that weight rests upon the shoulders of these two officers’
chain-of-command.
The media does a fine job of either
demonizing or sanctifying the police officers in these types of incidents. What
they do not do well is report on the chain of command. The leaders who are
responsible for the proper training and care of their subordinates are usually
nowhere to be found in the limelight. Except for when they provide a cliché
statement of public grievance and condolences. That is why this story, and
countless others like it do not continue to appear on your TV screens and your
newsfeeds.
The officers on the beat are the
one’s out there really hitting the grind and doing the damn thing, it’s insnane
to think that the problem begins and ends with them. Who trained them? Who
shaped these officers from a civilian to an appointed steward of the law? And most
importantly, why are they not being examined? This story transcends the death
of De’Von Bailey and speaks towards the numerous cases that are so similar to
his. There is an alarming number of questionable fatalities being committed
across the United States by the hands of uniformed officers, this is
undeniable. Yet, we still have no answers. We have incredible amounts of
speculation from the media but that has gotten us nowhere. So, maybe the
implementation of some new journalistic protocols is in order. It is time to
stop questioning the police and start questioning the ones who are in charge of
forming the mindset of our boys in blue.
In that same frame of mind, we cannot forget
about the mindset of the citizens whom the police serve. Shortly after the not-guilty
verdict for the officers that shot De’von Bailey was announced, the sign for
the city of Colorado Springs was vandalized in Bailey’s memory. There was red
paint smeared across the sign to symbolize bloodshed and a message that read,
“De’von Bailey will not RIP”. This shows that some people in the Colorado
Springs community are not done with this story. And rightfully so. If a member
of the community is righteously killed simply due to the speculations of those
who are innately around to protect them, that poses some serious doubt. Doubt
that is in need of some confirmation.
Bailey’s death cannot be altered or
reversed. But if the right amount of pressure is applied to those who feel
protected by their rank or position in the Colorado Springs Police Department,
then maybe the next De’von Bailey could actually see the possible avenues of
reformation that are available through our criminal justice system before he or
she is placed in a body bag.
Sources
denver.cbslocal.com/2019/12/10/colorado-springs-sign-vandalized-graffiti-devon-bailey-
shooting/.
www.kktv.com/content/news/Shooting-investigation-underway-in-southeast-Colorado-Springs-517188611.html.
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