Six years since killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice: US Legislatures still slow to limit use of force
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A wave of police killings of young Black men in 2014 prompted 24 states to quickly pass some type of law enforcement reform, but many declined to address the most glaring issue: police use of force. Six years later, only about a third of states have passed laws on the question.
The issue is at the heart of nationwide protests set off by the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white police officer in Minneapolis pressed a knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes while he pleaded for air.
Now, some lawmakers and governors are hoping to harness the renewed wave of anger to push legal changes on police use of force through that they couldn’t find passage for in 2014, a year that included the deaths at the hands of police of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Eric Garner in New York and 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland.