#tensing

Sandslash and Raditz

Jynx and Mr. Popo

Machamp and Tenshinhan

Makuhita and Majin Bu (Fat Bu)

Do you remember Sam DuBose?

Back in 2015, during a routine traffic stop, a white police officer who was wearing a Confederate flag T-shirt under his uniform shot unarmed African-American Sam DuBose in the head and killed him. The officer claimed that DuBose almost ran him over and that “he was being dragged by the vehicle and had to fire his weapon,” but video from the officer’s body camera showed this was false. He was fired. Despite this, two separate juries--both predominantly white (10-2 and 9-3)--failed to reach a verdict.

There will be no third jury.

“Before dropping the case, [prosecutor Joe] Deters said he heard in discussions with both black and white jurors from the first two Tensing trials that he could ‘never’ get a conviction. ... Deters said he thought his prosecutors made a strong case on the murder and voluntary manslaughter charges but they could not break though biases -- racial and pro-police -- among the jurors. ‘The division in this country is profound ... In this case we had jurors who would not vote to convict a police officer.’”

Refreshing your memory: On July 19, 2015, during a routine traffic stop, a white police officer who was wearing a Confederate flag T-shirt under his uniform shot African-American Sam DuBose in the head and killed him. DuBose was, of course, unarmed. His last words were “I didn’t even do nothing.”

The officer claimed that he killed DuBose because he feared for his life. (The magic words!) He reported that DuBose almost ran him over, and that “he was being dragged by the vehicle and had to fire his weapon.” Video from the officer’s body camera, however, proved he was lying. At no time did the vehicle drag or nearly run over him; rather, the officer shot DuBose through the driver’s window pretty much instantly, with no provocation.

Even with this video evidence, the predominantly white (9-3) jury was somehow unable to decide whether the white police officer who shot the unarmed black man in the head while he was trying to drive away committed a crime.

Again.