NYPD Murders Yet Another Unarmed Man—After an Attempted Traffic Stop

December 14, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On December 8, two NYPD cops shot dead 36-year-old Miguel Espinal, who was unarmed. All that is currently known is what little the police are letting out: They claim that two cops saw Espinal driving “erratically” in the New York City borough of the Bronx and that when they tried to stop him, Espinal drove away. They chased Espinal through the Bronx and into the next county, Westchester, where he crashed the car and fled into a park. The police claim there was some kind of “struggle,” and one of the cop’s guns discharged. To emphasize again—this is all from what the police say happened. What IS clear is that the police have killed yet another unarmed person—like so many others across the country, especially Black and Latino people.

At a December 11 press conference and speak-out at the 50th Precinct in the Bronx, where the two cops who killed Miguel Espinal are stationed, Sara DeVincenzi from the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, NYC, pointed out that the two cops "pursued [Miguel Espinal's] car over the Bronx border into Westchester and Yonkers—for four miles, which in itself is dangerous and contrary to their own NYPD guidelines," which say officers are not supposed to pursue such long distances for a traffic stop. Sara went on to say, "After the car smashed, maybe trying to avoid the cops, the driver in a panic, Miguel Espinal was afraid. I wonder why he might have been afraid of the cops pursuing him. He ran into the nearby woods. He was pursued by the officers… As we usually hear in these situations, the officers are starting to spin their story, that he 'went for their gun'…a whole lot of B.S. 'Went for their gun'—as he was running into the woods, and shot himself, the gun went off. Guns don't go off so easily, they really don't. There's supposed to be a safety on them. Unfortunately, in this situation, we most probably do not have a video. And even when we do have a video, does that help? Did that bring justice for Eric Garner?"

Also taking part in the Stop Mass Incarceration Network protest at the 50th Precinct were Juanita Young, whose son Malcolm Ferguson was murdered by NYPD in March 2000; Iris Baez, whose son Anthony Baez was murdered by NYPD in December 1994; and Noche Diaz from the Revolution Club, NYC, who is currently facing a number of charges and is targeted by the powers that be for his active role in the resistance to police terror and in the movement for revolution. News 12 from Westchester covered the protest.

 

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