NEW YORK – Philadelphia police geared up for another night of unrest after officers shot dead a black man holding a knife in the latest police killing to spark anger in America, just a week before the election.
Hundreds of demonstrators took to streets yesterday, with riot police pushing them back with shields and batons following the death of 27-year-old Walter Wallace, whose family said he suffered mental health issues.
More than 90 arrests were made during a night of sporadic riots and looting in the city, and 30 police officers were injured, including one whose leg was broken when hit by a truck.
“For today, and this evening, we anticipate the chance of additional incidents of civil unrest,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told reporters.
“As such we will be taking additional steps to ensure order,” including increasing police presence at key locations and deploying the looting response team, she added.
The US has seen a wave of protests and rioting since the police killing of George Floyd in May in Minnesota, when an officer was filmed pressing his knee to handcuffed Floyd’s neck until he went limp.
Many of the protests have accused the police of racism and brutality, but President Donald Trump has focused on the unrest to bolster his claims to be the “law-and-order” candidate in his election battle against Joe Biden.
The Democratic challenger and his running mate Kamala Harris said in a statement that their “hearts are broken” for Wallace’s family.
But they also called on demonstrators to protest peacefully.
“No amount of anger at the very real injustices in our society excuses violence,” they said.
“Looting is not a protest; it is a crime. It draws attention away from the real tragedy of a life cut short,” Biden and Harris added.
Local media reported that two officers shot Wallace around 4pm (4am Tuesday, Malaysian time) on Monday afternoon after he refused to drop the knife as his mother tried to restrain him.
Phone video of the killing posted on social media showed Wallace push his mother away and then walk towards the police.
“Put the knife down”, one of the officers shouted in the video, which panned away as officers opened fire.
Wallace’s father, also called Walter Wallace, said his son appeared to have been shot 10 times, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“Why didn’t they use a taser?” the paper quoted him as saying.
“He has mental issues. Why you have to gun him down?” he added, saying that his son was on medication.
Outlaw launched an investigation, saying the video “raises many questions”.
“While at the scene this evening, I heard and felt the anger of the community,” she said in a statement.
A spokesman for Philadelphia police said most of the officers injured had been hit by projectiles such as bricks and rocks and suffered cuts and bruises.
Twenty of the 30 hospitalised had been treated and released, he added.
The shooting of Wallace comes a week after an officer in Waukean, north of Chicago, in Illinois shot dead 19-year-old black man Marcellis Stinnette when he opened fire on his vehicle.
His 20-year-old partner, Tafara Williams, was also wounded.
“When does it end America?” asked civil rights lawyer Ben Crump at a press conference.
“How many more slack people have to be killed because of police brutality, excessive force bias, systematic racism, deliberate indifference?” – AFP, October 28, 2020
