Justice for Linus Phillip
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LINUS PHILLIP -- ANOTHER UNARMED BLACK MAN KILLED BY POLICE
(Note: DailyKos posted a column on April 24 that we'd like everyone to read: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/4/24/1759449/-On-saints-and-sinners-and-deservingness)
Linus Phillip loved his children, and was a devoted family man. He loved taking his kids to the park and spending time with family. When his daughter was born with a rare cancer, he refused to leave the hospital, even to get a haircut. He also enjoyed sports, and playing Madden Football and NBA2K on PS4. He also loved comedy clubs, and often took his wife Victoria to the Improv in Tampa.
On March 23, he was shot and killed by Largo Police, another unarmed person of color dead at the hands of law enforcement with no due process or arrest -- just like Michael Brown, Phillandro Castille and Stephon Clark before him.
When law enforcement shoots and kills unarmed black men, they all seem to follow the same playbook:
* Use a flimsy excuse for pulling over and detaining him.
* Release no video, so the only official account is that of the police.
* Demonize the victim by painting him as dangerous or a career criminal.
* Claim they feared for their lives to justify deadly force.
The case of Linus Phillip is no different. A few Fridays ago, Linus was pulled over at a WaWa gas station because the window tint on his rental car was too dark, according to officers. They claim they smelled marijuana, so they tried to detain him, but they said he tried to drive away, causing police to fire four shots through the passenger window, killing him.
After the incident, police told the family that WaWa’s security cameras caught video of the incident. Later, they said that all the cameras had an obscured view, and as a result, only had video of the police rendering CPR on Linus. Later, they told the family’s attorney, John Trevena, that no video existed. Since gas stations like WaWa can have up to 36 surveillance cameras taking video at all times, it’s not difficult to find that claim hard to believe.
Regardless, police have only released barely one minute of video from only two on-site surveillance cameras, despite the fact police were there for hours and the WaWa had at least 15 cameras on site.
In addition, the Largo Police have admitted that two detectives visited the funeral home to attempt to use Linus’ fingers to open his cell phone. This was witnessed by workers at the funeral home, as well as Linus’ widow. The family’s attorney has filed a complaint against the detective, who gave Linus’ widow their business cards while on site at the funeral home. We are also considering a lawsuit against the City of Largo for unwarranted search and seizure, and obtaining illegal access to the body after it had left city custody.
Moreover, eyewitnesses who spoke to the family’s attorney have related their accounts of the incident, and they differ significantly from the official police story.
The family wants to hire an independent professional to perform an second autopsy for the family, just like the one Stephon Clark’s family ordered -- which revealed Clark was shot 6 times in the back, refuting the official police account. The family is also facing the loss of a breadwinner, and a variety of end-of-life expenses. When a victim of a police shooting leaves a family behind, it’s always difficult and always costly. We are asking your help to defray the costs of our independent investigation, the new autopsy and the family’s expenses. We also need to build a legal fund up to the task of taking on an entire city government and filing a Constitutional lawsuit aimed at preventing police from using these tactics in the future.
Attorney John Trevena -- famous for helping obtain in 2007 the release from prison for Jean Claude Meus, a Haitian truck driver wrongly convicted of vehicular homicide -- is managing this fund for the family and is gearing up for yet another fight against a justice system that treats people of color differently from everyone else.
Please give what you can and join our fight.
(Note: DailyKos posted a column on April 24 that we'd like everyone to read: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/4/24/1759449/-On-saints-and-sinners-and-deservingness)
Linus Phillip loved his children, and was a devoted family man. He loved taking his kids to the park and spending time with family. When his daughter was born with a rare cancer, he refused to leave the hospital, even to get a haircut. He also enjoyed sports, and playing Madden Football and NBA2K on PS4. He also loved comedy clubs, and often took his wife Victoria to the Improv in Tampa.
On March 23, he was shot and killed by Largo Police, another unarmed person of color dead at the hands of law enforcement with no due process or arrest -- just like Michael Brown, Phillandro Castille and Stephon Clark before him.
When law enforcement shoots and kills unarmed black men, they all seem to follow the same playbook:
* Use a flimsy excuse for pulling over and detaining him.
* Release no video, so the only official account is that of the police.
* Demonize the victim by painting him as dangerous or a career criminal.
* Claim they feared for their lives to justify deadly force.
The case of Linus Phillip is no different. A few Fridays ago, Linus was pulled over at a WaWa gas station because the window tint on his rental car was too dark, according to officers. They claim they smelled marijuana, so they tried to detain him, but they said he tried to drive away, causing police to fire four shots through the passenger window, killing him.
After the incident, police told the family that WaWa’s security cameras caught video of the incident. Later, they said that all the cameras had an obscured view, and as a result, only had video of the police rendering CPR on Linus. Later, they told the family’s attorney, John Trevena, that no video existed. Since gas stations like WaWa can have up to 36 surveillance cameras taking video at all times, it’s not difficult to find that claim hard to believe.
Regardless, police have only released barely one minute of video from only two on-site surveillance cameras, despite the fact police were there for hours and the WaWa had at least 15 cameras on site.
In addition, the Largo Police have admitted that two detectives visited the funeral home to attempt to use Linus’ fingers to open his cell phone. This was witnessed by workers at the funeral home, as well as Linus’ widow. The family’s attorney has filed a complaint against the detective, who gave Linus’ widow their business cards while on site at the funeral home. We are also considering a lawsuit against the City of Largo for unwarranted search and seizure, and obtaining illegal access to the body after it had left city custody.
Moreover, eyewitnesses who spoke to the family’s attorney have related their accounts of the incident, and they differ significantly from the official police story.
The family wants to hire an independent professional to perform an second autopsy for the family, just like the one Stephon Clark’s family ordered -- which revealed Clark was shot 6 times in the back, refuting the official police account. The family is also facing the loss of a breadwinner, and a variety of end-of-life expenses. When a victim of a police shooting leaves a family behind, it’s always difficult and always costly. We are asking your help to defray the costs of our independent investigation, the new autopsy and the family’s expenses. We also need to build a legal fund up to the task of taking on an entire city government and filing a Constitutional lawsuit aimed at preventing police from using these tactics in the future.
Attorney John Trevena -- famous for helping obtain in 2007 the release from prison for Jean Claude Meus, a Haitian truck driver wrongly convicted of vehicular homicide -- is managing this fund for the family and is gearing up for yet another fight against a justice system that treats people of color differently from everyone else.
Please give what you can and join our fight.
Organizer
John H. Trevena
Organizer
Largo, FL