As much of the country follows the Trayvon Martin case, activists in Chicago are hoping to bring some of that attention to Howard Morgan, a former Chicago police officer who was shot 28 times by white officers -- and lived to tell his side of the story.
Morgan was off-duty as a detective for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad when he was pulled over for driving the wrong way on a one-way street on Feb 21, 2005, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. While both police and Morgan agree on that much, what happened next is a mystery.
According to police, Morgan opened fire with his service weapon when officers tried to arrest him, which caused them to shoot him 28 times. His family, however, very much doubts those claims.
Howard Morgan.
“Four white officers and one black Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad police man with his weapon on him — around the corner from our home — and he just decided to go crazy? No. That’s ludicrous,” Morgan's wife, Rosalind Morgan, told the Sun-Times.
She was not the only person to doubt CPD's side of the story. A Change.org petition signed by more than 2,600 people called for all charges against Morgan to be dropped, and now Occupy Chicago is getting involved.
"After being left for dead, he survived and was then charged with attempted murder of the four white officers who brutalized him," Occupy wrote on their website, adding that Morgan was found not guilty on three counts, including discharging his weapon. The same jury that cleared him of opening fire on the officers, however, deadlocked on a charge of attempted murder -- and another jury found him guilty in January.
That jury was not allowed to hear that Morgan had been acquitted of the other charges.
Protesters and Morgan's family say the second trial amounted to double jeopardy, and claim officers have gone to great lengths to obstruct justice in the case:
Howard Morgan's van was crushed and destroyed without notice or cause before any forensic investigation could be done.
...
Howard Morgan was never tested for gun residue to confirm if he even fired a weapon on the morning in question.
The State never produced the actual bullet proof vest worn by one of the officers who claimed to have allegedly taken a shot directly into the vest on the morning in question. The State only produced a replica.
“If they can do this and eliminate double jeopardy and your constitutional rights, then my God, I fear for every Afro-American — whether they be male or female — in this corrupt unjust system,” Morgan's wife told the Sun-Times.
Howard Morgan will be sentenced Thursday. He faces 80 years in prison.
It figures that this is going on in the Peoples Republic of Chicago.
ReplyDelete“If they can do this and eliminate double jeopardy and your constitutional rights, then my God, I fear for every Afro-American ----It's not just a black thing, lady
ReplyDeletePlease You'll never have to worry about being falsely accused,harrased,shot,and then sentenced for it in the first place, White man
DeleteWhoa! Now they found a new one to try to play up since the Trevor Martin scam is petering out, huh? Where is your outrage against the MILLIONS of bestial black crimes against white people? For instance, at about the same time as the Martin thing, an elderly white couple, the man a ww2 veteran, age 92, and his wife near 90, were attacked by a negro home invasion. The man was brutally beaten. His wife was RAPED TO DEATH by the Blacks. Also a 13 year old white boy was set on fire by blacks and left with third degree burns. A man was left in a coma by blacks who attacked him with a hammer. This is just a few out of the millions. How about the Zebra killings and the Wichita Horror and the Knoxville Horror? I don't see any of your crocodile tears about those.
ReplyDeleteyou stupid moronic racist, how about all the black people murdered and raped during slavery. Black people are the victims of white racism every day. As for those attacks on whites, they were not racially motivated, the evil scum who attacked would have attacked anyone, they were not targeting those people cos they were white , they were attacking them cos they happened to be the nearest available victims. Now why don't you go and put on your clan robe and then jump off the nearest cliff, the world does not need scum like you.
DeleteCops shooting other cops. Don't care what color they are as long as the pigs bleed red. Should happen more often. F 'em all.
ReplyDeleteThe only sensible post of the four posts so far.
DeletePoor man, I hope that he gets the true justice he deserves and it gets thrown out of court
ReplyDeleteBlack, white, purple, red, orange with pink polka dots.. truth is truth....
ReplyDeletecanada cops evil racist
ReplyDeletesue cops in groups blacks
ReplyDeleteOk, I looked at this article right folks...three things struck out at me...not white black racism by the way ...I saw the sentence shot 28 times...and before that I saw that this happened in Chicago...by police...enough said. In this former country of ours, Chicago is the most corrupt city there is hands down. Worse than New York and LA combined, we've known this since the late 40's...well we found it out like 20 years later but what the hey.
ReplyDelete