After the Durham Police Department cleared three officers involved in the November shooting death of Frank Clark, the Durham FADE Coalition is asking for more transparency, cooperation, and accountability from the city.
“All too often, victims of police shootings are blamed, shamed, and framed as if they would still be alive if they had acted differently, when in fact, the cause of death usually starts with the police instigating an encounter for no clear or apparent reason,” FADE (which stands for Fostering Alternative Drug Enforcement) wrote in a letter to the Durham City Council via SpiritHouse today.
You can read the full letter here:
The letter comes after the DPD’s Friday announcement clearing the three officers involved in Clark’s case. In March, District Attorney Roger Echols said he would not prosecute Master Officer Charles Barkley, Officer Monte Southerland, or Officer Christopher Goss in Clark’s death.
“Frank Clark, whom Durham Police Department officers shot and killed on November 22, 2016, was approached for walking through a neighborhood,” the FADE letter reads. “If the police had not stopped him, he would still be alive today. Yet, in the administrative findings the Durham Police Department released on June 9, 2017, the Department somehow found that ‘the three officers involved’ in Frank Clark’s killing ‘violated no administrative policy or procedure during the incident.’”
FADE makes several requests to the city, including city involvement in public discussions about police-involved shootings, “an actionable plan that will reduce the dangers and trauma our communities are subjected to by over-policing,” and the establishment of a victims’ fund.
