Following the controversial shooting of Ghanian graduate assistant Kofi Adu-Brempong by University Police, Students for a Democratic Society presented a list of demands to Vice President of Student Affairs Patricia Telles-Irvin. Listed below are these demands followed by the Editorial Board’s recommendations.
1. Drop all charges against Adu-Brempong and pay for his medical bills. 2. Oversight of the investigation by a neutral party. 3. Termination of UPD officer Keith Smith. 4. A review board, consisting of students, faculty and police, to analyze UPD’s use-of-force policy. 5. Improvement of UF’s mental health and crisis services.
While we fully agree with Alachua County Judge Denise Ferrero’s order to have the original charges, including one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, refiled due to a lack of probable cause, we cannot support or reject any recommendations with Adu-Brempong’s current charges of aggravated assault on an officer and resisting an officer with violence until after the investigation into the incident is complete and we have more information. Adu-Brempong’s medical costs will continue to be paid for by the Department of Jail while he is under its control.
President Machen was right in appointing Margolis, Healy & Associates, the same public safety organization that investigated Virginia Tech’s massacre, to review the shooting. This is too complex an incident to rely on an internal investigation, and we have faith this organization will shed unbiased light on an event that has cloaked UF’s campus with protests, outrage and disdain for public officials.
We at the Editorial Board don’t feel we have the authority to recommend firing a public official, but we do question why the officer who shot Adu-Brempong, Keith Smith, who was involved in a 2009 incident in which police officers harassed and threw eggs at residents, was even in this position.
According to UF spokesman Steve Orlando, Smith was put on paid leave following the shooting and is now on paid administrative duty. We feel he should be suspended without pay.
We support the fourth and fifth demands. UPD’s use-of-force policy has been questioned since the Tasering of Andrew Meyer in 2007 sparked national outrage.
An internal analysis of UPD’s 2009 use-of-force policy shows UPD reviewed 18 incidents. Eleven of those involved a police officer drawing a firearm.
According to UPD, only four of those 11 incidents involved situations where police thought the suspect had either a gun or knife. However, UPD used a Taser only one time in 2009, which is a decrease from eight times in 2007.
UPD attributes the decrease to its current Taser policy, which states “suspects must be transferring from active physical resistance to aggressive physical resistance.”
While we advocate for the safety of our police officers and for their ability to protect themselves and the citizens they serve, we do question the use of force needed against a single man stricken with polio as a child, causing him to walk with a cane. According to police, Adu-Brempong swung a metal rod and threatened them with a knife, causing police to stun Adu-Brempong with a beanbag gun and a faulty Taser deployment. If Adu-Brempong did swing a metal rod at police, this would warrant UPD to deploy Tasers, according to policy. But some suggest the rod was his cane. We also question why he was shot in the jaw rather than a safer location.
Lastly, we feel an improvement in the understanding and knowledge of mental health and crisis services on campus is a welcome addition to our inclusive campus. We believe UPD and GPD should make crisis intervention training mandatory and place heavier emphasis on its importance.
Above all, the Editorial Board looks forward to the results of the independent review so we can understand what happened and who was at fault for the circumstances that have engulfed UF’s campus and drawn national scrutiny.
Jared Misner is metro editor and guest to The Editorial Board.
