Opinion: Girl's Death Illustrates Need for New Policing Style

(May 20) -- When 7-year-old Aiyana Jones died in Detroit early May 16, it was at the hands of a police force intended to protect and serve the community, not enrage it.

Aiyana, a second-grader described by family members as a "lively girl" who would sing and dance along to the tunes of Justin Bieber and "Hannah Montana," was killed by Detroit police during a raid on her family's home.

Ultimately, Detroit police did get the murder suspect they were after, only not in the home where Aiyana died. The methodology they employed to catch their 34-year-old suspect has since sparked a debate over its use of brute force and military-style tactics.

Detroit police say they used a device known as a "flash bang" through a front window of the home intended as a distraction before they entered. Following that, they claim a Detroit officer got into an altercation with Aiyana's grandmother, Mertilla Jones, which prompted a gun to unintentionally go off and kill Aiyana as she slept.

Michigan attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who is representing Jones' family, said he's obtained video footage of the incident captured by a crew filming for the A&E show "The First 48" and has dismissed police explanation of the incident as "entirely false."

In an interview with WDIV on Monday, Fieger said the footage shows that "a shot was fired immediately from the outside from the porch" immediately after the grenade device was thrown.

On Tuesday, the family filed federal and state lawsuits in response to the incident -- one of which accuses the Detroit police of violating Aiyana's constitutional rights. Fieger says more lawsuits are on the horizon, one of which will be filed on behalf of Mertilla Jones for false imprisonment.

After Jones watched her granddaughter die, she was arrested, drug tested and tested for gunpowder before being released without charges.

During the news conference, Jones said, "You can't trust the Detroit police. They wouldn't even let us check on the other kids [in the house]."

In relation to the way they treated her family, Jones noted how "they were so rude to us."

Rude is only one way to describe the way police officers forced Aiyana's father, Charles Jones, to lie face down in a pool of his daughter's blood.

The officer whose gun killed Aiyana has been revealed to be Officer Joseph Weekley, an officer known for devoting time to children.

Yet, Weekley was also accused of being a part of a Special Response Team that in 2007 shot two dogs, and then pointed a gun at an unspecified number of children, including an infant.

Weekley is not a monster, but the militarization of our police force has spurred several officers to engage in monstrous acts.

There are a plethora of problems plaguing Detroit and other major U.S. cities, all of which have made the jobs of law enforcement all the more dangerous.

I understand Detroit Police Assistant Chief Ralph Godbee's claims that due to the violent nature of the crime, they had to act swiftly. However, the terms swiftly and recklessly aren't interchangeable.

The callous disregard that the police showed for the lives of others who were not suspects only further escalates already longstanding contentiousness between minority communities and the police.

Despite Mayor Dave Bing's calls to keep the investigation local, I agree with Rep. John Conyers and others' pleas for a federal investigation into the death of Aiyana Jones.

Aiyana Jones did not live in a bunker in Baghdad. She lived in a major American city. She deserved better.

With her funeral on Saturday, I hope that police departments can use her death to re-evaluate our style of policing and in the future do better.


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