A clearer shield
The only thing more agonizing than the video itself was the fact that it took more than two years to see the light of day. In bodyworn camera footage from a May 2019 Monroe, La., traffic stop, Trooper Jacob Brown pummels 46-year-old Aaron Larry Bowman 18 times with an aluminum flashlight while Bowman is pinned to the ground.
“I’m not resisting!” Bowman says repeatedly, a cry as desperate as “I can’t breathe.” To no avail: Brown broke Bowman’s jaw, wrist and three ribs and left a deep laceration on his head.
An internal investigation following a lawsuit Bowman filed last October triggered Brown’s arrest in December. The trooper intentionally mislabeled the footage, say officials, only a partial explanation for why it took until Thursday to surface. Bowman is only one of three Black drivers Brown is accused of violently arresting, as the department for which he works is under scrutiny for the death of yet another Black driver, Ronald Greene.
Though we’re sure the training and professionalism of the NYPD far exceed those of the Louisiana State Police, our fine department has its share of officers who abuse their authority. A welcome difference here is that, under city policies put in place in the middle of last year that replaced full-of-loopholes rules rolled out in Commissioner Jimmy O’Neill’s final days, video is now automatically released to the public within 30 days after an officer fires a gun and a bullet hits someone or “could” hit someone; tases someone to death or causes “substantial bodily harm”; or otherwise causes someone’s death or “great bodily harm.”
We were happy to peruse the list of 56 incidents with links to footage posted by the NYPD; the public should do the same. (All but three are officer-involved shootings; are serious injuries resulting from other types of force that rare?) We’re also pleased about the progress the Civilian Complaint Review Board has made in getting access to videos to investigate use-of-force claims. Fights for transparency, though long and lonely, pay dividends.