Social media's catalytic nature has proven to be a valuable tool in allowing users to reach large audiences with important content that shapes how society acts and perceives itself. Victims and witnesses of police brutality are stepping forward on Twitter, Facebook and other popular social networks with first-hand evidence.
The past few days in U.S. news hold prime examples of stories being captured on video by average citizens doubling as amateur reporters, and catching fire online only to be shared by national news outlets shortly after.
On July 5th 37-year-old man Alton Sterling was shot dead outside of Triple S Food Mart in Baton Rouge, LA by police. Law enforcement responded to a 911 call claiming Sterling, who was selling CD’s outside of the convenience store was “brandishing a gun”, a claim the store’s owner refutes.
Store owner and manager Abdullah Muflahi exited his store as police slammed Sterling into parked cars before tasering the man, eventually killing him with multiple fatal gunshot wounds to the chest. Muflahi filmed the attack and posted the now-viral video, which shows Sterling covered in his own blood, presumably deceased, as police pull a gun-shaped object from his pocket.
According to footage from the Baton Rouge Police Department, both officers’ body cameras detached during the altercation, lending a sense of uncertainty to what could have been captured.
Sterling left behind a loving family and particularly devastated son, seen openly mourning his father’s death in a CBS Evening News segment, which has also gone viral.
In an all-too-familiar fashion, another raw clip of a police shooting surfaced on July 6 th and shook social media to its core. Just one day after the execution-style death of Alton Sterling, 32-year-old man Philando Castile was shot dead during a routine traffic stop in St. Paul, MN that the involved officer said was over a broken tail light.
In the car with Castile was his four-year-old daughter and his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who captured the immediate aftermath of the shooting on film. Reynolds’ live stream to Facebook shared with social media her boyfriend’s bloodied chest, still the focus of the officer’s raised gun and her own aggressive subsequent removal from the vehicle by police.
Of Castile during the incident, Reynolds said, “He let the officer know that he had a firearm and he were reaching for his wallet, and the officer just shot him in his arm” according to Vox.
The stream has over five million views, and counting.
In a statement through St. Paul Public Schools, Castile's coworker says that Castile is already missed by peers and students alike at J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School where he was a cafeteria supervisor.
