No charges will be filed against two Baton Rouge police officers in the 2016 shooting death of Alton Sterling after an investigation determined the officers’ actions were “well-founded and reasonable,” Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said earlier this morning. Sterling, 37, was shot and killed by one of two police officers who confronted him outside a convenience store in July 2016. Cell phone video showed Sterling, a black man, pinned to the ground by the white Baton Rouge police officers before he was shot; police said Sterling was shot because he was reaching for a gun.
The officers were responding to a call about a man with a gun. The call was from a homeless man who said that after he approached Sterling for money, Sterling showed him the weapon.
In May 2017, federal prosecutors found there wasn’t enough evidence to warrant civil rights charges against Officers Blane Salamoni, who shot Sterling, and Howie Lake II.
I know just like me, ya’ll are not surprised by this decision. The law will forever side with the police, and they’ll continue to support the slaughter of our black men.
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