Letter to the Editor Did Melvin Bouler have to die?

Melvin Bouler, an African American citizen of Gary, died at the age of 83 from shots fired at him by Gary police while he was sitting behind the wheel of his car.

The shooting occurred in November of 2019. The facts appear to be that Mr. Bouler had received a phone call from a woman friend who was in a dispute with someone in her Small Farms apartment. Mr. Bouler arrived on the scene with a gun. Apparently, he went in and a while later left the apartment and proceeded to his car which was parked outside.

No one had been shot or killed.

Until the police showed up. The officers were responding to a call where an intoxicated man with a gun was causing trouble.

Mr. Bouler, who was hard of hearing, was ordered by two Gary police officers to get out of his car. He did not do so.

After Mr. Bouler did not exit his car, they proceeded to shoot into the front window of his car 10 times, critically wounding him enough to require hospitalization. He died months later.

Some people want to blame

Mr. Bouler for responding to the woman’s call for help by bringing a gun. Others want to blame the woman for calling him in the first place. Or for calling the police.

But let’s get real. While Mr.

Bouler and the woman caller may have been guilty of very bad judgment, they had committed no criminal act, no shooting had taken place in the apartment. Mr. Bouler had not shot at the police.

And yet the police used lethal force against him. People are outraged that this man is now dead. They believe it did not have to end this way.

What is police protocol in this instance? What methods did they use to de-escalate the situation?

Was there probable cause to shoot through Mr. Bouler’s car window 10 times? Doesn’t probable cause require that officers have evidence that Mr. Bouler had committed a crime or that he was in the process of committing a crime?

Were Mr. Bouler’s 4th amendment rights, as an American citizen, violated by the two Gary police officers that night?

Will there be a Grand Jury called to examine the evidence?

Or will they be exonerated by law enforcement officials?

Mr. Bouler was a father, a grandfather, a member of his community and loved by many.

What if this had happened to your father or grandfather? To your brother or your uncle or your cousin? To your son?

How would you feel if these two officers go free under the doctrine of Qualified Immunity which according to Mississippi federal court judge Carlton

Reeves is “…a legal doctrine invented to protect law enforcement officers from having to face any consequences for wrongdoing.” Officers are shielded by this doctrine if they can show they acted in “good faith” or had “probable cause.”

I ask you, where is the good faith or probable cause in this case?

Couldn’t other methods have been used to de-escalate the situation? Wouldn’t you have wanted that for your loved one?

This is not a TV show. This is real life in our city. We deserve answers and justice for Mr. Bouler.