Protesters rally after officer cleared in black man’s killing in Alabama
The parents of an African-American man killed by a white police officer who mistook him for a shooter at a shopping mall have joined protesters in Montgomery, Alabama, a day after the state cleared the officer of wrongdoing.
The mother, father and grandmother of Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr. accompanied several dozen demonstrators Wednesday across the office of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.
The state attorney general in each of the 50 US states is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer.
Demonstrators burned US flags and chanted "Hands up, don't shoot" and shouted Bradford's name.
Two female demonstrators were arrested by police and led away in handcuffs.
EJ Bradford was killed November 22 by a police officer responding to a shooting at a shopping mall in the Birmingham suburb of Hoover.
Authorities haven't released the name of the officer, who was taken off patrol following the shooting.
Numerous demonstrations have been held across the US in recent years over the killing of unarmed black men by white police officers.
“Across the country we've got people being murdered by police. I'm going to call it what it just what it is. Murder. My son is gone," said Emantic Bradford Sr., who has publicly accused authorities of covering up details of his son's death.
Bradford Sr. called Marshall a "coward" for not meeting with him. Marshall said his chief deputy met with the family and showed them video of the shooting.
Marshall's report said the officer mistook Bradford for the gunman, but was still justified in the shooting because Bradford was running with a handgun drawn in the crowded mall and appeared that he was going to hurt others.
Marshall told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his office determined that the officer acted reasonably under the circumstances. He disputed assertions from the Bradford family lawyer that body camera footage, which was not publicly released, showed an officer, or officers, pumping their fists over Bradford's body.
Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said at a news conference that the killing caused anxiety for the whole city, where days of protests were held afterward.
However, the mayor said the officer will go through a “process of returning to work” and the city will conduct its own review.
US police officers fatally shoot hundreds of people every year, with a disproportionate number of those being black.
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