‘I’m Down, I Can’t Breathe’: Two Former Oklahoma Officers Charged After Newly Released Video Shows They Fired 15 Rounds, Killing Man Who Was Fully Compliant With His Hands Raised

There is no joy or sat­is­fac­tion for me when I bring these atroc­i­ties to your atten­tion, in fact, it pains my heart to do so but even as I try my best to expose these inci­dents of police vio­lence, my attempts do not begin to scratch the sur­face of what’s going on.
Time and again we hear of these inci­dents in which police exe­cute peo­ple sim­ply because they can and suf­fer no con­se­quence. Usually, their vic­tims are Black or brown.
The sad real­i­ty in America is that the pop­u­lar cul­ture of mil­i­ta­rized police and the added cloak of immu­ni­ty cre­at­ed by the Supreme Court has result­ed in a war­rior men­tal­i­ty by police who act with total impuni­ty when they are deal­ing with peo­ple of color.
It does not mat­ter whether their intend­ed tar­get is in his or her own home, 85-years-old, female, or a deaf per­son, much less one suf­fer­ing from a men­tal ail­ment. The bark­ing of orders is fol­lowed by an oblig­a­tory bar­rage of bul­lets killing the intend­ed target.
The bark­ing of orders regard­less of how need­less or unnec­es­sary is law­ful jus­ti­fi­ca­tion for killing whomev­er they want; usu­al­ly some­one Black or Brown.
It is a sick and nau­se­at­ing spec­ta­cle that the world must be awak­ened to. This is what is hap­pen­ing in America. Government agents are com­mit­ting geno­cide on the peo­ple they hate and arrest­ing with dig­ni­ty white mass murderers.(MB)

Two for­mer cops have been charged in the 2021 police slay­ing of a Black man in Lawton, Oklahoma.

An admin­is­tra­tive inves­ti­ga­tion con­tend­ed both offi­cers did not fol­low the department’s “well-estab­lished train­ing pro­to­cols, poli­cies, prac­tices, cus­toms or pro­ce­dures” dur­ing the alter­ca­tion, lead­ing to first-degree manslaugh­ter charges announced last week. USA Today reports an Aug. 1 hear­ing has been sched­uled for for­mer Lawton offi­cers Robert Hinkle, 30, and Nathan Ronan, 29, after District Attorney Kyle Cabelka charged them for the death of Quadry Sanders, 29.
The announce­ment was made on Friday, May 6. Cabelka said in a state­ment, “The Comanche County District Attorney’s Office has made the deter­mi­na­tion that the shoot­ing of Quadry Sanders was not jus­ti­fied. An inves­ti­ga­tion into the slay­ing, head­ed by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations, last­ed months.

The fatal encounter began on Dec. 5, 2021, when Ronan and Hinkle respond­ed to a 911 call where a female caller iden­ti­fied Sanders as a per­son wav­ing a gun in someone’s house and refus­ing to leave. The offi­cers arrived at the home locat­ed at 1806 NW Lincoln Avenue, near N.W. 18^th St. and N.W. Lincoln Ave.
According to author­i­ties, the offi­cers asked Sanders to exit the res­i­dence, but instead of com­ing out the front, he left from the side door. Reports say Sanders lat­er returned to the prop­er­ty and came to the front where the offi­cers were. This is when the offi­cers shot and killed him, say­ing the three were in a “con­fronta­tion” prompt­ing them to fire their weapons.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation deter­mined the men’s actions war­rant­ed that they be fired.
Hinkle was dis­charged from the LPD for vio­lat­ing the force’s pol­i­cy and pro­ce­dures per­tain­ing to “con­duct and behav­ior, the jus­ti­fi­ca­tion to use dead­ly force, dead­ly force, and unsat­is­fac­to­ry performance.
Ronan was dis­charged for also vio­lat­ing pol­i­cy and pro­ce­dures, how­ev­er, his strikes were the fail­ure to per­form “duties and respon­si­bil­i­ties, the jus­ti­fi­ca­tion to use dead­ly force, dead­ly force, mobile and body cam video/​audio (not acti­vat­ing body­cam footage).”
Both of the offi­cers dis­obeyed LPD Rules and Regulations – Performance of Duty and City of Lawton Municipal Code – Violations of City Code.

In a state­ment, Lawton City Manager Michael Cleghorn said Ronan and Hinkle’s con­duct was “not in con­for­mance with the Lawton Police Department’s well-estab­lished train­ing pro­to­cols, poli­cies, prac­tices, cus­toms or procedures.”
The charges were announced after video footage of the alter­ca­tion was released. The footage showed Sanders in full com­pli­ance with the orders giv­en him by the two for­mer cops. The footage showed Sanders was only ordered to put his hands up after he was shot four times, and offi­cers con­tin­ued to shoot him despite him obey­ing their commands.
The med­ical exam­in­er list­ed Sanders’ cause of death as “mul­ti­ple gun­shot wounds.” A total of twelve gun­shot wounds were found on his body (abdomen, groin area, legs, arm, and hand).
Audio from the offi­cers’ body­cam hears them shout­ing at the Black man, “stay down” and “roll over on your stomach.”
It also cap­tures Sanders say­ing, “I’m down” and “I can’t breathe.” No gun was found on Sanders.

Cabelka’s office said 15 rounds were fired at Sanders: 11 rounds by Hinkle and four rounds by Ronan
The offi­cers, who were fired from the depart­ment in January, were arrest­ed. The two were released on a $25,000 bond on Friday. Should they be con­vict­ed for Sanders’ death, they both face a min­i­mum of four years in state prison.
Sanders’ fam­i­ly is being rep­re­sent­ed by S. Lee Merritt, who was not sat­is­fied with the charges, believ­ing they should be upgraded.
On social media, he wrote, “We demand mur­der charges.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation deter­mined the men’s actions war­rant­ed that they be fired.
Hinkle was dis­charged from the LPD for vio­lat­ing the force’s pol­i­cy and pro­ce­dures per­tain­ing to “con­duct and behav­ior, the jus­ti­fi­ca­tion to use dead­ly force, dead­ly force, and unsat­is­fac­to­ry performance.
Ronan was dis­charged for also vio­lat­ing pol­i­cy and pro­ce­dures, how­ev­er, his strikes were the fail­ure to per­form “duties and respon­si­bil­i­ties, the jus­ti­fi­ca­tion to use dead­ly force, dead­ly force, mobile and body cam video/​audio (not acti­vat­ing body­cam footage).”

Both of the offi­cers dis­obeyed LPD Rules and Regulations – Performance of Duty and City of Lawton Municipal Code – Violations of City Code. Upon see­ing the evi­dence, Merritt said it remind­ed him of the George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery deaths, two cas­es he worked on behalf of their fam­i­lies. I put this video on that lev­el,” he said.
“It real­ly shocks the con­science when you have a chance to see Mr. Sanders lit­er­al­ly doing what­ev­er he could to try to save his own life, and these offi­cers are oper­at­ing with such callousness.”
Merritt lat­er wrote on Instagram he could not “find a sin­gle redeemable fac­tor that mit­i­gates any aspect of this shooting.”
“It was just mur­der. There was no jus­ti­fi­ca­tion,” the cap­tion con­tin­ued. “These men must be pros­e­cut­ed to the fullest extent of the law.”
KSWO reports Merritt will con­tin­ue to push the DA’s office to upgrade the charges to mur­der. Merritt also plans on con­tact­ing the Attorney General and the Department of Justice.
Lawton Mayor Stan Booker said last week, “As the Mayor of Lawton, the loss of life in our com­mu­ni­ty is always a dif­fi­cult mat­ter to grasp. My thoughts and prayers go out to the par­ents and those in our com­mu­ni­ty who lost a loved one in Quadry Sanders.”

“Although this deci­sion and the releas­ing of infor­ma­tion that fol­lowed may pro­vide clar­i­ty to this trag­ic inci­dent, it does not come with­out impact­ing one’s stages of grief and mourn­ing of a lost loved one,” he con­tin­ued. “I believe the Lawton Police Department holds itself to the high­est pos­si­ble stan­dards, and I know it will con­tin­ue to do so mov­ing forward.”
This sto­ry orig­i­nat­ed @ the Atlanta Black Star, full cred­it belongs to them.