By: Amanda Anderson-Niles
With many in the nation being disgusted with the state of Florida post George Zimmerman being found not guilty for the murder of Trayvon Martin, as the numbers of heinous crimes involving unarmed black men continues to increase in the state, it’s clear just why the boycott Florida movement is picking up steam. As we reported recently, an unarmed black man was shot by police in his mother’s driveway. According to reports, the man was mistaken for a criminal attempting to break in the car after he decided to walk to the car to retrieve a pack of cigarettes. The 60 year old victim Roy Middleton says all he did was lift his hands in the air as he was told, but once he turned to face the officers with his hands lifted they began shooting. Middleton was shot in the leg, while other bullets were found in the car and the side of the house. To absolutely no surprise, the sheriff of Escambia County is defending the incident and in typical Florida fashion has decided to blame the unarmed victim stating it’s his fault he was shot because he didn’t comply to the officers’ orders. CNN reports:
Police officers opened fire at Roy Middleton, an unarmed man, while coming out of a car in the driveway of his home in Pensacola, Florida. David Morgan, Escambia County Sheriff, joined New Day to defend the officers’ actions and said they “followed standard protocol.”
Police officers were responding to an early morning 911 call related to vehicle theft.
Morgan told CNN’s Chris Cuomo, “Right now, we’re comfortable from a training perspective that our officers, in fact, did follow standard protocol.”
I’m definitely not surprised considering this sheriff has a longstanding reputation of being a racist himself.
Yet another reason not go back to Florida ever again.
This is absolutely disgusting. Why does everyone in Florida think it’s okay to be racist and shoot first for no reason?
They shot this man because they were scared. And that’s what these racists do. They carry these guns because they are scared of black men. That’s why it’s not taking much for them to use it. They ain’t sh-t without those guns though.
Florida: The state of Cowards with Guns.
This! And that’s all these people are..wimps!
THIS!
At this rate, I’m never going back to Florida. Not even for Miami. This has to stop.
Cops mess up all the time but rarely will they admit it. They will protect their own no matter how wrong they are. Smdh.
Why isn’t this story getting more attention?!
Because people want to just put their attention on one story…Trayvon Martin. We have to start paying attention to all the injustices, not just one.
If you believe in shooting first, you shouldn’t be a cop.
Of course he is going to deny because that will look bad on the whole department shooting an unarmed black man and that man can sue them which he should.
There’s really no way to justify this. The man was unarmed and had his hands in plain sight. This is just another act of racist people with badges overacting because they think they can get away with it.
Make them pay for their ignorance. I’d sue for millions. That whole department is a joke. State too.
Damn they love blaming the victims huh?
I can’t even say I didn’t see this coming.
I can’t…
If you’re a black man you need to get the f-ck up out of Florida.
Jesus Christ. Smh.
Time to lawyer up!
Florida just keeps right on with their crooked ways.
Sue em.
How in the hell are the cops right for shooting an unarmed black man who A. wasn’t even committing a crime and B. was in his mom’s driveway at the time?
“He lounged at us so we shot at him!” A 60 year old man? Oh please!