Police

Florida Police Officer Argues 'Stand Your Ground' Justifies Killing Black Man

Oh, did I mention the officer shot the black man in the back?

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(image via Getty)

On the one hand, the fact that a police officer is using a “stand your ground” defense in his trial for manslaughter and attempted first degree murder is a good sign. First and foremost, he’s being tried! A police officer hasn’t stood trial for an on-duty killing in 26 years in Florida. Another good sign is that he’s using a civilian defense to murder, not the usual police defense of “I’m a cop and that means I can kill black people.”

On the other hand, as if it’s not easy enough for cops to kill black people, now they’re trying to use Stand Your Ground to do it? “In states where ‘stand your ground’ is the law of the land, white-on-black homicides are 354 percent more likely to be ruled justified than in incidents of white-on-white homicides according to the nonprofit Urban Institute.” The very last thing we need is for cops to be armed with this defense as well.

One can only hope that the murderous actions of officer Nouman Raja outweigh the murderous intent of Stand Your Ground legislation.

Prosecutors say that Raja stopped Corey Johnson after he stepped out of his broken SUV. Raja was in plainclothes and prosecutors allege that he did not identify himself as a police officer. After a brief encounter, Raja ordered Johnson to put up his hands. Johnson, thinking he was being car jacked, pulled out his gun (that he was licensed to carry). Raja shot.

If Johnson had died right there, this encounter that was completely caused by Raja, one where he allegedly didn’t even identify himself, would go down as just another black man gunned down by the cops like a dog. The police regularly get away with this kind of officer-“caused” murder.

But Johnson didn’t die right there. Instead, prosecutors say he turned, threw down his gun, and ran away.

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Raja kept shooting. The killing bullet struck Johnson, in the back, 200 feet away from his vehicle, 125 feet away from his discarded, un-fired weapon.

That’s how we get into Stand Your Ground. Because there is no “justification” for a police officer shooting an unarmed, weaponless, fleeing man in the back. But since the whole point of Stand Your Ground is to kill black people, there might be a justification to for a man who is not identified as a police officer to shoot a man in the back over an encountered he caused, as long as he is really scared.

There’s a voice recording that seems to back up the prosecutor’s version of events. Raja didn’t know that Johnson was on the line with a tow truck company when he got out of his SUV. Raja claims he identified himself, and claims he didn’t see Johnson discard his gun.

Of course, Raja is also accused of lying to cover up his actions. After he shot Johnson, he made a call to 911. He’s heard yelling “drop the gun” in the 911 call, even though he called after the last shot was fired.

Again, the fact that Raja is on trial at all is a good sign. If you are a dead black man who would like for justice to be done, you better hope your officer-murderer is as obvious as Officer Raja.

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It’s been seven years since Trayvon Martin was gunned down and killed by George Zimmerman, by the way.

Florida officer using ‘stand your ground’ defense in trial for killing black motorist [NBC]

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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