‘Stand your ground’ no defense for police

Trained pros should meet higher standard

My cousin Corey Jones tossed a football with me long before I ever caught passes in the NFL.

A talented musician, Corey was shot dead by a plainclothes police officer while waiting for roadside assistance off a Florida highway. His senseless death on Oct. 18, 2015, became my call to action. I retired from professional football last fall to work full time fighting for criminal justice reform, and racial and social equality.

Corey’s death has been devastating for my family, but this is not just about our own quest for justice. There are profound repercussions for our nation, too. Equality and accountability are missing. There are too many injustices in our justice system.

The former cop who killed my cousin is trying to base his defense on a perverted interpretation of Florida’s stand your ground law — the controversial legislation meant to protect an average citizen, not cops who unjustly kill.

Nouman Raja, the former Palm Beach Gardens officer, is awaiting trial on charges of manslaughter and attempted murder in the death of my cousin. Raja’s lawyers told the court they intend to seek Florida’s stand your ground protection. Incredibly, a few police officers have already used this defense successfully. Those judicial decisions made no sense at all. Florida’s stand your ground law was intended to apply to regular citizens who felt they were forced to defend themselves when no police officer was available to help. It’s not meant to give officers a license to kill.

Corey, who legally carried a gun for protection, was simply waiting for a tow truck. After a late-night gig with his band, he just wanted to get home. Raja was dressed in civilian clothes and was in an unmarked car when he approached my cousin. He never identified himself as a police officer. Instead, he took it upon himself to confront an innocent man behaving in an innocent way, before shooting him dead.

I was playing for the San Francisco 49ers when I received news of my cousin’s death. My mind reeled. How could this happen to a cousin I had known my entire life, a man who played drums in church, a “gentleman’’ according to relatives at his packed funeral? How could someone simply waiting for help be killed by someone sworn to protect?

Florida’s stand your ground law, passed in 2005, was intended to allow everyday citizens to use deadly force if they reasonably believe it’s necessary to prevent harm or death. My cousin didn’t have a chance to stand his ground or even defend himself — yet now his killer is turning the law on its head and claiming self-defense. Who was Raja defending himself from? An innocent man who was no threat to an armed, plainclothes police officer.

I have relatives who are police officers. I respect law enforcement and the pledge to protect and serve. I am thankful to those who serve.

But this is not a case of a sworn officer protecting anything. It’s about someone trying to get away with an unjust killing.

In May, a judge is slated to hear Raja’s request to throw out the charges against him using Florida’s stand your ground law. The two-day hearing, originally scheduled for this week, was delayed after legal bickering.

The use of stand your ground in this case is unacceptable, plain and simple. If a trained police officer is able to kill an innocent person and then seek protection from a law intended for untrained citizens, our nation is in trouble.

If Florida’s law is successfully perverted to protect Raja, then we will have failed Corey, and all those who died at the hands of police before him. We will continue to fail anyone else who dies at the hands of the people who are meant to protect us.

It is on us to mobilize to make things right. Email your legislators and governor, advocate and fight for those who didn’t get a chance to see justice. If we sit silently, the blood of Corey Jones will be on our hands, too.

The more we allow police officers to use this law, the less we’ll be able to hold them accountable.

Anquan Boldin won Super Bowl XLVII with the Baltimore Ravens was named the NFL’s 2015 Walter Payton Man of the Year for community service.