I’m not seeing much information or outrage about Olando Brown (outside of social media), a Black Canadian man who apparently was killed by Barrie Police Officers who tasered him to death.
These are the only articles I could find, none of which name him or make it explicitly clear that a black man was killed by the police:
SIU investigating after man dies following arrest by Barrie police
Ontario man dead in police custody after Tasering
Friends of Barrie man who died after being Tasered on Friday shocked, upset
Barrie police say the arrest took place at around 2:30 p.m. on Friday. Police have not confirmed the exact location of the ordeal.
They say the man was then taken to the Barrie Police station for processing where he went into “medical distress.” Paramedics provided first-aid at the station and transported him to Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre where he later died.
Family and friends have identified him as 32-year-old Olando Brown.
A witness who captured video of the altercation on his cell phone later posted it on social media. The video has been viewed thousands of times.
The video appears to show the officers struggle with Brown while trying to arrest him near some trees between two buildings.
Throughout the video, the sound of a Taser being deployed could be heard before Brown is brought to the ground. An officer shouts “stop resisting” and “put your hands behind your back” while the others forcibly hold him on the ground.
Lance Freeman, who recorded the video, told CTV News Barrie that he watched the officers approach Brown while he was asleep near a bush.
“They asked him to see his ID and before he even had a chance to pull his ID out, the one guy just kicked him and the other started chasing him,” Freeman said.
He said he pulled out his cellphone when he saw one of the officers kick Brown “right in the temple.”
“Everybody was telling the cops to stop, that they were using force,” he said. “How do you expect someone to sit still when you’re Tasering him?”
Freeman claims he stopped recording when one of the officers pointed at him and said he was “next.”
Barbara South, Brown’s aunt, said her nephew was a generous and loving person who has “never been aggressive.”
“Yes he goes off the track a little bit… nobody’s perfect, but he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body,” she said.
South believes Brown would have never died after his arrest if he was white.
“They de-escalate and they find ways to get to calm a situation without any violence when the person is white. But when you’re black, your life has no value,” she said.
“My nephew was murdered… There’s no doubt about that.”
The mother of the victim’s 11-year-old child told CTV News Barrie that she’s beside herself with grief.
“She’s left without her dad,” Donna Dubois said via phone. “How do I explain this to her? How is she going to think that police officers are safe when this is what they did to her dad?”
Dubois said Brown was a “fantastic dad” who was always willing to help a friend in need. She said she believes Brown had “run-ins” with the law and had a warrant out for his arrest but intended on turning himself in.
“He did not deserve this whatsoever, not whatsoever,” she said. “I’m completely devastated I couldn’t even watch the video. I’m disgusted.”
prguitarman
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
origamiaround
titsay
snowghoul
theartofmadeline
