COMMUNITY ACTIVIST LEARNED NOT TO JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS

After the Freeport, Texas police chief gave Quanell X access to the crime scene and facts gathered in the police shooting of a black man, he told an ugly crowd that the shooting was justified and for them to go home

Quanell X, a controversial Houston community activist, has mouthed off at every police shooting of a minority person, usually either implying or charging that the cops were not justified in resorting to gunfire. He has also surrendered a number of wanted persons to the police. I’ve always looked at him as an Al Sharpton wannabe.

On Wednesday afternoon a white Freeport, Texas police officer shot and killed Ron Sneed, a black man, at his girlfriend’s apartment. Quanell told ABC13 that he heard several different versions of the shooting while he was on his way from Houston to Freeport. By the time he got to Freeport, an ugly crowed of 100 people had gathered in front of the police station. They were angry that the cop shot Sneed instead of using pepper spray or a Taser.

When Quanell arrived in Freeport, the police chief allowed him to see the facts they had gathered and even allowed him access to the crime scene. He then appeared in front of the police station to address the crowd. He told them that in this case, the cop was justified in shooting Sneed and urged them to go home. Here is what he told the crowd:

"Many of these shootings, officers should be indicted for killing these unarmed men, But in a case like this, I don't think protests are warranted, and I think we should pray for the police officer as well as the family involved in this case."

In an interview Thursday with ABC13’s Tracy Clemons, the usually bombastic Quanell was quite humble. He paid tribute to Freeport’s police chief for giving him access to the crime scene and facts gathered by the police:

"I think that police chief in Freeport should be looked at as an example of how to handle a shooting dealing with some young African American male. The way he worked with the community instantly to deal with what was happening, the way he gave me unprecedented access to a lot of the facts that I could see for myself was able to suppress and quell a lot of the anger, the frustration, and the desire to riot."

Quanell recounted that:

"The girlfriend said to me 'Mr. X, when I woke up he had a gun in my face,' And I said, 'Was the gun real?' She said 'Yes it was real.' She said when the police came in, the police told him put the gun down. He said no, then turned the gun back toward her head and pointed at her head. That's when police officer fired the shots to kill him."

Quanell X told Clemons this case taught him that “jumping to conclusions helps no one.” He added:

"It was a learning experience for me to make sure that we as leaders of our people, we have to make sure that as quick as we possibly can gather as much of the facts as we can and be very skeptical of what you hear, investigate the facts for yourself as best you can as quickly as you can, then take a position."

Now, if this shooting had occurred in Houston, Quanell would never have gotten such cooperation from the police. Instead, his ass would have been thrown in the slammer if he had tried to stick his nose into their investigation while it was still going on.

Perhaps there is a lesson in this not only for community activists, but for all police agencies as well.