May 25, 2004
Police get away with killing another black man child
This one was killed for driving a pickup truck while black.
State Attorney Bernie McCabe has determined two Pinellas sheriff's deputies were justified in shooting to death 17-year-old Marquell McCullough earlier this month.Deputies David Antolini and Nelson DeLeon fired a combined 15 times at a pickup McCullough was driving, striking the teen nine times.
Sheriff's officials said McCullough smashed the pickup into DeLeon's cruiser, tried to clip Antolini, then headed toward another car.
Although deputies thought they had seen McCullough dealing drugs earlier that night, the investigation revealed it probably wasn't him, but a man who looked similar and also drove a pickup.
Sheriff's officials now will begin an internal investigation to determine whether the deputies followed agency policies.
McCabe's ruling drew sadness, outrage and more questions among some community leaders.
"It's just another layer on the already tense atmosphere that exists in the community," said Sateesh Rogers of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement.
Uhuru members have been marching at BayWalk and in Midtown, protesting the shooting.
Darryl Rouson, president of the NAACP's St. Petersburg chapter, said he finds it hard to believe deputies were completely justified. Yet, he urged people not to react until the internal review is done.
"The pain ... is still in the fact that a young black male's life has been snuffed out and there remains clouds over what happened," Rouson said.
Sheriff's deputies point out the fact that this "uppity nigger should have been on the back of the bus," and that he got "everything that he deserved" for having the gall to drive a pickup truck while someone somewhere was buying or selling or doing drugs or something.(Okay - they did not really say that, but it’s pretty much the gist of there attitude)
(Updated - edited for clarity)
Website of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement
Posted by Norwood at May 25, 2004 07:10 AM