Video: ACLU Calls for “Transparency” in MBI Investigation of Shumpert Shooting

[PRESS RELEASE]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 4, 2016
Contact: Zakiya Summers, (601) 354-3408, zsummers@aclu-ms.org
Statement on Clearing of Officer in Antwun Shumpert Investigation
The following can be attributed to Jennifer Riley-Collins, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi:
“This week, Lee County District Attorney John Weddle announced, during a press conference, that a grand jury has cleared Tupelo police officer Tyler Cook of any criminal wrongdoing in the June 18 fatal shooting of Antwun ‘Ronnie’ Shumpert. The DA also revealed that the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation had conducted an independent investigation. We call for complete transparency in this matter and demand that the MBI report be released to the public expeditiously.
“Far too many Black men die every year in police encounters, and many more are seriously injured. People of color are disproportionately affected by excessive use of force at the hands of the police.”
“The ACLU of MS joins with the people of Tupelo who demand answers and who want to know that there will be justice for Antwun Shumpert. We join with the people of Tupelo who believe that justice for those who have been harmed at the hands of police has been all but nonexistent in our state and across this nation, and that this failure has been a root cause of the lack of trust in police.
“Our systems of justice are far more willing to treat officers as innocent until proven guilty than they are the communities who are being policed — communities where people are presumed guilty and stopped, searched and arrested without cause. The ACLU of MS will continue to work for the reforms needed to end this double standard, as we have before, as the inquiry into Mr. Shumpert’s death continues. In the spirit of ending that double standard, we all need to know soon: When will the Shumpert family receive justice?”