The cold reality is that it could happen anywhere. When police in Pasco earlier this month shot to death an unarmed 35-year-old illegal immigrant in an incident captured on video, the reminder was that it could happen anywhere. That’s not because police are lawless rogues; it’s not because officers are targeting minorities. It’s because police are faced with split-second life-and-death situations every day, and sometimes those situations have tragic consequences.
On Feb. 10, Antonio Zambrano-Montes, an orchard worker from Mexico, was throwing rocks at a busy intersection and hit two officers. According to the police report, he refused to drop the rocks before fleeing. According to video, he fled from officers, then turned to face them and was shot to death. Video can never illuminate all of the intricacies of a volatile situation, but the visual record of Zambrano-Montes’ death makes it clear that he posed no threat. Of course, that is easy to say from the comfort of a desk. Zambrano-Montes was running with his back to officers, then turned to face them with his hands up. Perhaps an officer believed he had a gun; the tension of the situation called for an instantaneous decision.
Yet the death of Zambrano-Montes warrants an examination in the harsh light of day. Following the shooting of an unarmed man in Ferguson, Mo., which led to vast protests and widespread media coverage, and following the killing of a 12-year-old in Cleveland in November, and following the chokehold death of a man in New York, police throughout the country are coming under increased scrutiny. All too often that scrutiny has been drawn along political or philosophical lines, with some people loathe to criticize officers under any circumstances and others compelled to see nefarious motivations in any police-involved death.
The fact, however, is that those polar views are not mutually exclusive. It is entirely possible to be supportive of law enforcement while questioning individual officers and specific actions. It is completely reasonable to be pro-police while expecting officers to not shoot unarmed people who pose no threat. To not question the nature of these deaths and to not point out the fact that the victims in each case were minorities would be to abdicate our duties as citizens.