POLICE BRUTALITY WATCH: POLICE SHOOT BLACK MAN TO DEATH AFTER HE CALLS 911, FORCING HIM TO DIE ALONE (3264 hits)
The bodies of Black people killed by police continue to pile up. This time, a Dekalb County, Georgia officer shot and killed Kevin Davis after he called them for help following an assault at his residence. Davis’s family, friends and colleagues all convey the feeling that he was a kind, generous and reliable man who made significant contributions to the predominately Black community of Decatur, Georgia.
Because of his kindness and generosity, Davis had invited co-worker Terrance Hilyard to stay with him and his girlfriend, April Edwards, while Hilyard got on his feet. On the night of December 29, Hilyard and Edwards got into an argument that quickly escalated to Hilyard stabbing Edwards with a kitchen knife and the fleeing the scene. Davis called 911 to get assistance for his injured girlfriend.
Three eyewitnesses report that Officer Joseph Pitts was the first officer to arrive on the scene, and that upon entering Davis’s home, Pitts did not announce his arrival or identify himself. He then proceeded to shoot and kill the couple’s three-legged dog, Tooter. Since Davis did not know an officer had arrived, he grabbed his own gun, fearing that Hilyard may have returned to further assault his girlfriend after hearing the shots ring out. Then, according to eyewitnesses, including Davis’s girlfriend, state that Pitts shot Davis twice, without warning or any command for him to put down his weapon. Edwards could be heard saying, “What have you done? Why did you shoot him?”
As has become the norm, the police account differs from eyewitness accounts, with Pitts claiming that he not only ordered Davis to drop his gun but Davis refused to do so. Davis was taken to a local hospital, where police refused to allow him to have any contact with his family, both in person and over the phone. To the frustration of his doctors, Davis was not allowed to have any outside contact, with law enforcement saying it was because he was “in police custody,” despite the fact that he had not committed a crime.
Officers refusal to allow Davis to have any outside contact forced him to die alone. As if this was not callous enough, officers notified Davis’s family of his death without condolences, stating only that he had expired. Adding insult to injury, a DeKalb County Police representative then told the grieving family that had not been allowed to say goodbye to their dead loved one, “You can go see him now.”
Delisa Davis, Davis’s sister, states, “It’s heartbreaking to us that he had to die alone, that the died with the identity of a criminal. He was 44, and had never been convicted of any crime.” While many people across the country have been protesting against the high rates of law enforcement officers killing Black people, what makes this case unique from many that have been in the headlines is the fact that Davis was not killed in a public place; he was killed in his home after calling police for help. One of the things that is similar about this case to the killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri is that Decatur is a predominantly Black community that is policed by a department that is largely white.
Davis’s family, along with Georgia State Senator Vincent Fort, has requested that the Georgia Bureau of Investigations conduct an independent investigation of the shooting, death and arrest. Mawuli Davis, who works for the law firm representing the family, states, “When you call for help, that is what you should get. An independent investigation needs to be launched immediately so this family can understand what has happened to their loved one.” He also stated that Davis’s family, “says Davis was a hero who died alone in police custody, despite their attempts to see him.”
DeKalb County police report that they are investigating the shooting and will turn the case over to the district attorney upon the completion of their investigation. The district attorney’s office has indicated that they are conducting a separate investigation once the police department concludes theirs.
