WORDS HAVE MEANING

So What Is The Definition Of An "Unarmed Black Man?"

by Bob Walsh

On Sunday I was out and about and I saw a modest, well-behaved demonstration across from the Stockton City Hall.  No throwing stuff.  No blocking traffic.  No harassing passers by.  I didn't even see any cops around.  It was nice.

That being said, it was also troublesome in a way.  They were there protesting the fact that an "unarmed Black man" had been shot to death by the local constabulary recently.  His name was Antwane Burrise and he died on July 15.

Burrise, 39, was actively being sought by the local cops as a suspect in a gang related homicide and other violent crimes.  He was spotted by the cops in a car in an apartment building parking lot where his babymama lived.  The cops approached and tried to arrest him.  He backed up in an attempt to run the cops down.  They shot his ass.  He died.  His family do not believe the police version of the shooting, which is fully supported by body cam footage.

His family believes that, because Burrise was suffering from PTSD and had mobility issues due to having been previously shot (not by the cops) the cops should have not shot him.  They also are asserting that was not not an immediate hazard because he was not holding a gun in his hand actively shooting at anybody at the time he was shot.

The fact that there was an illegally altered, fully automatic AK on the seat next to him with a full magazine and a pistol with a full, extended magazine under the seat does not, in his families opinion, make him "armed."

Burrise got out of prison in April.  He was also on federal probation for firearms and fraud charges.  

So, what do you think.  Is a known ex-con who is being actively sought for suspicion of murder "armed" merely because a loaded machine gun is sitting on the seat next to him?  Is trying to run cops down REALLY ADW on a peace officer?  Your comments are welcome.