Officers Norris Greenhouse Jr. and Derrick Stafford have been charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder following the death of six-year-old Jeremy Mardis.
Greenhouse and Stafford were shooting at Mardis’ father, Chris Few who was critically injured in the incident which took place in the central Louisiana town of Marksville.
A total of 18 shots were fired. The young boy was in the front seat of his father’s pickup truck wearing his seatbelt while he was fatally wounded five times in the head and chest. His father received bullet fragments to the head and lungs.
Four officers were involved in the incident, however, no word on whether or not the other two will face charges. But one was wearing a bodycam and the footage helped lead to the arrest of Greenhouse and Stafford.
There’s no word on the cause of the incident but Col. Mike Edmonson, Superintendent of the Louisiana State Police shared, “As a father, much less head of the state police, I looked at that tape [and] I said this is incredibly disturbing.”
According to the NY Daily News, authorities are in the midst of piecing together evidence from the crime scene including 911 calls and witness interviews.
The DailyMail also uncovered that both officers have a history of misconduct. In 2011, Greenhouse was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of aggravated rape. There also five pending civil lawsuits against the officers including incidents of unlawful tasering as well as an excessive force case in which Stafford was said to have broken the arm of a 15-year-old girl while placing her under arrest.
Should Greenhouse and Stafford’s badges have been taken long before this incident?
Is there a double standard when it comes to justice for Caucasian and African American victims? Do you think the police would have been charged so immediately if the victim were a black boy?
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