IV: All right. Go ahead.
AH: Yes. All right. What I’m saying with this whole police shooting, with police brutality, that doesn’t give you, OK, I got a bad, I’m a person of the law, that doesn’t give you the right to, like, hmm, I’m in the mood, I’m going to wake up and just shoot him just because I can, because I got a gun, I have a gun, and I’m paid to shoot. Yes, I’m supposed to be a person, a citizen in society and to protect the law, but what laws are they protecting? If you supposed to be an officer, to protect the law, or protect the citizens, not shoot it. Just because, like, I got a gun, I feel like shooting somebody, it’s my job to shoot back. They gave me a gun, I’m paid to carry this gun. So I feel this gun, I’m gonna use, regardless of this person who doesn’t even have a gun, so I understand, yes, if they shoot while you’re defending yourself, and it’s just survival, I can understand if you’re in fear for your life. But since they’re just going to use, hmm, they’re just going to use the same as that, going, oh, I’m in fear for my life, maybe just shoot this guy in the head, if he’s in a car, oh, let me go pull this guy over, let’s do some flagrant ticket, just to walk up, pop, shoot him in the head, therefore, hmm, I’m going to make it justifiable, because I have this body camera, and this, I’m an officer, they’re going to believe me, this is going to be justifiable, only thing I’m going to do is go from the streets, maybe to a desk job and then ’til they clear it, and then, hmm, go back, get my gun back after, what, you had thirty, sixty days, after they cleared you, oh, it’s justifiable, make me a hero, get me a marksman, get me a medal and a raise, go back and shoot another person. But now it’s like, hmm, since they have body cameras, now it just is like, oh, shit, I’m gonna record this shooting, hmm, let me turn this murder, let me put two in his head and say that, oh, he had a weapon, he defended. Or especially with a —and I only speak because, the guy from North Carolina. This man was clearly more than five feet away from him, and his back was turned. So let me put six in him, and then say, oh, then we put six in him, not knowing the fact that you had another pedestrian, another citizen of America did record it, because [UNCLEAR], so, hmm. I’m just gonna put six in him, handcuff him, drop a weapon by hiding him, saying the fact that, oh, hmm, I was in fear for my life. So, why, how were you in fear for your life when you put six in this man’s back? To be in fear for your life, you have to be face to face with that person. You have to be confrontational with that person. You have to defend yourself face-to-face, but if my back is to you, no direction – if my back is to you, the only threat that I have towards you, if I’m close like this. If I’m in arm’s reach, then I can be a threat. But since there’s no threat, if you’re going to shoot me in the back of my head, put six in my back, and one in the back of my head, and make it justifiable, like, oh, since I’m a police officer, I was in fear for my life, this man is clearly more than five feet away, he was running when they shot him.
IV: So have you had any, like…
AH: I’ve accident—personally, myself? Yes, I’ve had officers just pretty much pull me over, like, oh, I look like this particular person because of my clothing. Oh, I fit the description of this particular person, so I’m just going to lay your ass down. Or, you know, you’re going to get me, pull me over, jump out of the car, put a gun to my head, search me, saying that I, make some janky story of I robbed an old lady, or I was going to rape or take an assault to some female that I don’t even know. Just because, yeah, listen, I might be black, or I have similar clothing to that person, individual. Or just be like, OK, he’s black, he’s tall, well, he’s wearing blue jeans, white shoes, and a brown shirt. No, and in fact, OK, they got right up, and you just automatically fit the description, because I’m young, I’m black, and I’m wearing these particular clothes. Or, if I had tattoos, you got any tattoos, just because, OK, yes, he had tattoos, he fits the description, we got this guy. So we’re going to charge this guy with rape, with murder, whatever, or I’m just going to flat-out shoot him. I don’t think that, like, if you do know the laws, and most cops will actually shoot you more, or they even get mad when you do know the law. So if you do know your rights, that is one thing and that will trigger a cop’s anger, because he thinks he knows this. But to a cop, worst enemy or a weakness to an officer is anyone that knows the law and knows their rights. So since a person knows their rights, oh, I gotta shoot them, flat out. I’m going to kill you because you know your rights. I’m right, you’re wrong, I have this camera, I’m going to get this murder charge dropped down to involuntary manslaughter, get this manslaughter charge dropped down to, oh, it was justifiable shooting. I’m a hero now, because, uh, you’re a threat to society, so I had to neutralize the threat to society, so that’s what makes me a hero, and that’s what makes me get a raise, or get me a promotion to sergeant, detective, whatever technical position of authority that he has. But not realizing that this man is unarmed, he’s no threat, and he’s educated. So since this man is no threat to you, and he’s educated, I have no choice but to take him out. I have to. I’m going to drive around, I’m going to think about shooting one or two people a day. So if therefore, I shoot two, three people a week, I can get a promotion or a raise or get a justifiable, and get these homicide charges or get these murder charges dropped, because justifiable shooting. I’m a hero. Then I get a badge of honor, and I get some type of, hmm, I’ll sit at a desk job, maybe I’ll do desk duty or some kind of inability duty until the justifiable clears and makes me a hero. Now I’m going to go to this press conference, saying that this man is a hero, he did this, he did that, he’s bettered our community, which we learn in actuality were the threats he [UNCLEAR]. The community is not the threat. We come together because we feel threatened. And our strength is nothing, and you can pretty much break us apart and separate us, that is our weakness. If you keep us separated, you can defeat us. If we come together, and bring strength in numbers, that’s our weakness. So you have to kill us off one by one to weaken our numbers. That’s what they want to do, and most officers, I’m not going to say all of them, hmmm, but they’re the majority of the percentage of officers, wants us to be weakened. They wants us to fear them, because yes, regardless of these, our teenagers, they, they don’t even care if they’re thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, if I think I’m going to be threatened, this man has a gun or any type of their body that look like it — it could be a phone. If it looks like a bullet clip, I’m going to shoot him. You know, especially with the whole Tamir Rice situation, I’m looking at the video, this man had, you know, you are clearly playing with just a toy gun. He had headphones and a phone. He reaches for his phone, you put two in his head. You know, and it’s clear – I’ve looked at the video three different angles and a close-up. He did just like this. He moved, he did like this, and you just pulled up in the car, pop-pop, and then he fully get out of the car, you just leaped up, pop-pop, ignoring the fact that this man has a toy gun, and a phone. So you’re going to kill this guy.
IV: So what made you watch the video multiple times?
AH: Because it was, I had to look at it because the first two videos they showed were blurry. There was actually another angle that was released. And a lot of officers doesn’t signify, or, damn, it’s another angle. These cameras are always four or five different angles. So you have to look at every different angle to see, or to get it justifiable. To clear any justifiable shooting or something in the situations, you have to look at more than one angle. Just because this person has a body cam, the body cam was just this angle, this angle, this angle or this angle. [UNCLEAR, STATIC] So when all these angles, with any shootings, they only just want to look at it the best way, is the body cam. If you don’t know that there are pedestrians out here that’s going to record things, different angles. They’re going to put it on social media, they’re going to send it to CNN, CNN, MSNBC, all these newscasters are going to look at social media, social media, of Facebook, Twitter and all this.
IV: So do you feel as though us recording what’s happening has helped?
AH: Yes. And I feel as though these, that – you do need the recordings that will pretty much take a justifiable shooting to murder. That was murder. You pull up in the car, you just, you step out, pop-pop, that’s murder. Yeah, that’s flat-out murder. Your intentions of pulling up and shooting him just because this man, oh, he’s twelve years old. He got a gun, he has a toy, he has a phone in his hand. I don’t care what he got in his hand, I’m going to, you’re deliberately setting the call because, I’m going to shoot this man because he has a toy gun. You don’t hear the fact that the call said that this pedestrian called to say, it looks like he has a toy gun. Clearly, all you hear, I’m an officer, he’s a, he has a gun, I’m going to shoot him. Or, I’m an officer, he’s this distance from here, for example, to the table. So if I’m an officer, that man there is not a clear danger, I’m just going to shoot him because I have a gun. Or he turned his back in that distance, so I’m going to empty my gun at him to make sure he’s down. I understand that most officers you might come into conversation, you have to use your weapons, you might pop him in the leg, or pop him in the arm. But if you shoot a man in the legs, one in each thigh, he’s down, he’s subdued. Where you going to go, you know what I’m saying? You can barely move. If you have two bullets in your legs, especially more than flesh wounds, where’s he going to go? He’s not. He’s down. You can subdue him. But no, I’m just going to have to put five in his back and one in his melon, or he’s sitting in the car, where do you see a weapon? If this man is in his car, and he’s clearly acting you, and both his hands is this way. So if I show you both my hands, that means I’m claiming you now have a weapon, so you have a weapon. You asking me where I’m going, I said, well, like, for example, I’m going to this parking lot. Or I’m going to this particular village. I’m turning. You’re going to shoot me outside of the building, and I show you both my hands, and of course you draw your weapon, you like to [UNCLEAR] a weapon. There’s a — what am I reaching for? Hmm, I might reach to get out of the car. What if I reach for the doorknob? Pop-pop. You thinking I’m reaching for a [UNCLEAR], but you can clearly see that I might be opening a door, or both my hands is up and you’re going to put two in my head. How is that justifiable? How are you going to fear your life if you put two in my head? And clearly my hands are up. Like I said, palms up signify that I do not have a weapon. Look, I understand I might have one hand down, I might not reveal one hand. But if I reveal both my hands, I don’t have a weapon.