Justice for Tanisha Anderson rally: Activists to rally for stiffer internal discipline for Cleveland cop that killed Tanisha Anderson, and for his partner at 5pm March 14, 2018 at Ansel Rd and Superior Ave, activists also demanding sweeping changes in the police union agreement, collective bargaining law and the arbitration process....The male cop that killed Tanisha, who was a Black woman, got a 10-day suspension, and his partner, a written reprimand.....By Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
Comprehensive article
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| Tanisha Anderson |
BY CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio-Greater Cleveland community activists will rally at 5pm on Wed., March 14, 2018 at Ansel Road and Superior Avenue on Cleveland's largely Black east side to call for stiffer internal discipline for two Cleveland cops involved in the 2014 death of a mentally ill Cleveland woman whose call for help was met with excessive force by police, and her death.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE EVENT FACEBOOK PAGE FOR THE RALLY
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE EVENT FACEBOOK PAGE FOR THE RALLY
Tanisha Anderson, 37, was killed by officer Scott Aldridge, 49, in front of her home at the 1300 block of Ansel Road November 3, 2014, after she was literally slammed to the sidewalk.
Another officer at the scene, Bryan Myers, whom Aldridge was training when the deadly incident occurred, stood by and did nothing.
Now they both face minor discipline, Meyers reprimanded with a written warning and Aldridge getting off easy with a mere 10-day suspension without pay.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, Police Chief Calvin Williams and Safety Director Michael McGraft announced the discipline of the two officers at a press conference on Monday.
Anderson's mother, Cassandra Johnson, said Monday that the discipline is "unfair."
A defenseless Black woman in need of mental health attention and not police abuse, her killing followed the high profile killing by police of Malissa Williams 30, and Timothy Russell, 43 in late 2012, both unarmed and both Black.
It preceded the Tamir Rice killing by Cleveland police, also in November of 2014, the 12-year-old Black boy gunned down by a trigger-happy White cop at a park and recreational center on the city's largely White west side, and roughly two weeks after Anderson was killed.
The incidents are countless, it seems, and nearly each time, police escape any serious punishment, an indictment almost a luxury for the Black community.
Police claim Anderson resisted arrest, though they to this day cannot explain why she would be arrested, particularly given her mental health background, which includes a diagnosis of schizophrenia, investigators said.
The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide by physical restraint by police while Anderson was in a prone position, a ruling that Common Pleas Administrative and Presiding Judge John Russo sought to manipulate on behalf of police, sources say, Russo issuing an order striking parts of the medical examiner's medical assessment using fancy legal terms that have little if any merit.
Anderson's brother, Joell Anderson, called 9-1-1 for mental health assistance following a mental health episode by his sister and instead got met with the cops, the city of Cleveland since altering policies on how police deal with mentally ill people in distress in cooperation with a still-in-place court-monitored consent decree for police reforms between the city and the U.S Department of Justice.
The city settled a wrongful death and excessive force lawsuit with the family for $2.25 million.
Activists organizing Wednesday's rally say police should be held accountable and that "the lenient punishment for a murder by Cleveland police of an innocent and disabled Black woman in distress does not fit the crime."
The police union is grieving the discipline, an arbitrator of whom will likely decide the outcome.
Union president Jeffrey Follmer says the police officers did nothing wrong and that the union supports the two officers.
Arbitration is generally the final step in the grievance procedure outlined in the affiliated collective bargaining agreement and vacating or overturning an arbitration award in Ohio is virtually impossible, but it does happen, only the parties to the affiliated collective bargaining agreement of which have standing to seek to vacate an erroneous arbitration award via an administrative appeal to the applicable common pleas court..
Community activists are calling for an end to police brutality and police misconduct in general, and want justice and accountability for Tanisha Anderson and her family, and for the police officers at issue to be indicted, fired and prosecuted.
"No one in our society can get away with what police get away with," said activist Don Bryant, who is White and one of the organizers of Wednesday's rally. "Picking on a poor defenseless woman in need of medical attention is unconscionable."
Activists say that Blacks are routinely indicted in a malicious fashion and often on a "ham sandwich."
Activists also want sweeping changes in state law and the negotiating process as to the collective bargaining agreement between the city of Cleveland and the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association and other affiliated law enforcement-labor unions, the arbitration process in particular. The Black community remains at risk, data show, and not just in Cleveland, but nationwide relative to heightened police killings of unarmed and other Black people that are erroneous, as well as malicious prosecutions, excessive prison sentences to young Black men in particular, and a legal system that is broken at the core, and across the continuum
"We need public policy changes regarding this crucial matter of necessary police reforms and we have difficulty seeing the effectiveness of a court-monitored consent decree for police reforms with the city of Cleveland and the United States Department of Justice when it is still business as usual as Cleveland police officers continue to arbitrarily kill Black people and Black women with impunity," said Cleveland activist Kathy Wray Coleman, who leads the grassroots group the Imperial Women Coalition
This upcoming rally event is spearheaded by many greater Cleveland community groups including ImperialWomenCoalition.com, Black on Black Crime Inc, the People's Forum, Puncture the Silence, Peace in the Hood, Clevelandurbannews.com, Black Man's Army, Carl Stokes Brigade, the Task Force for Community Mobilization,Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Women's March Cleveland, International Women's Day March Cleveland, and Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network
.Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
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