The shooting death of Charleena Lyles, a 30-year-old pregnant mother of four, by Seattle police has brought anger and criticism yet again of the way police engage African Americans. The Seattle Police Department’s history of using excessive force and employing discriminatory practices against Black Seattleites prompted the 2011 U.S. Justice Department investigation into the SPD’s conduct, resulting in court-ordered reforms. In 2015, the SPD began training officers in crisis intervention for people with behavioral problems, but a pattern of criminalizing Black people persists.
Lyles called 911 on June 18 to report a break-in. Police say officers killed her because she had confronted them with a knife. The Lyles family says she was battling a recently discovered mental illness.
[For more of this story, written by Angela Fichter, go to http://www.yesmagazine.org/pea...generations-20170626]
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