A Monday morning press conference at City Hall about preventing littering was taken over by demonstrators who forced upon a City official the conversation of police violence. At the podium when the loud interruption occurred was Philadelphia City Council President Mr. Darrell Clarke, who, then under pressure to make remarks about the June 8th fatal police shooting of Mr. David Jones, disclosed that the Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General will take over the investigation.
‘Justice for David Jones’ demonstrators had previously expressed no confidence in, and contempt for, the Office of the District Attorney of Philadelphia, which hadn’t issued protection nor interviewed the eyewitness to the deadly incident, despite having nearly two months to do so, and which doesn’t have a good track record in prosecuting police who kill unarmed black people.
Mr. Ryan Pownhall, the early 30s officer who killed Mr. Jones while he was unarmed and fleeing, is assigned to the 15th Police District.
“This is the same 15th District that shot my cousin, Brandon Tate-Brown, and no one went to jail for it,” said Black Lives Matter activist Mr. Asa Khalif, who was joined in the direct action by Mr. Isaac Gardner, the lead organizer with the ‘Justice for David Jones Coalition.’
Mr. Khalif and Mr. Gardner have in past weeks interrupted and shut down press conferences, public meetings and parties. And on Monday morning, with the Mayor of Philadelphia looking on, they asserted again that no event, nor politician, will be safe from agitation until there’s transparency into the investigation, and ultimately justice for Mr. Jones.
But on Monday, only one Philadelphia politician was the target: Mr. Clarke, a black man and the second most powerful democrat in the City. Mr. Clarke, like his colleagues in council, have steered clear from remarking about the high-profile story involving a white cop – who had years ago shot and paralyzed a fleeing black man – and a black father who, according to the eyewitness, was never told he was under arrest, let alone why he was being stopped-and-frisked.
“As a black man… there’s a lot of troubling issuing regarding this shooting,” Mr. Clarke said, after being pressed by Mr. Khalif and Mr. Gardner for comments. “It gives me more than pause.”
Mr. Clarke, who believes the PA Attorney General will conduct a “thorough investigation,” went on to say that “anytime an individual is shot in the back, there needs to be some answers.”
Demonstrators said it’s unacceptable that roughly 8 weeks would go by before the president of City Council made remarks about the shooting.
“I can’t understand why a council president who made his bones off of black people voting for him in North Philadelphia, is silent when you have a shooting death on tape,” Mr. Khalif stated.
A statement was requested by the AG’s office but wasn’t received by press time.
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We need transparency on this! His violent history background and anger management!