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'We Need Justice, Too' Say Families Of People Killed By Police

audrey dubose
Jason Whitman
/
WVXU
Audrey DuBose speaks during a rally hosted by Cincinnati's Anti-Police Brutality Coalition at New Prospect Baptist Church Saturday. DuBose's son Sam was shot and killed by a University of Cincinnati police officer in 2015.

Robyn Scott thought she wouldn't be able to get out of bed for a demonstration against police brutality on Saturday. The depression she's experienced since her son Melvin Murray died during a police chase was gripping her. She didn't think she could talk to a crowd of people in Roselawn about what happened.

"It hurts when you can't touch your child, when you can't hug your child, when you can't talk to your child. It hurts. I couldn't get out the bed ... But I got the strength to get up because I was thinking about my child," she said, calling for the crowd to help take on police brutality and demand accountability.

Scott was one of three mothers who spoke to a crowd of more than 50 people Saturday atNew Prospect Baptist Church. The rally was part of a National Day of Action meant to bring attention to the families of people killed by police. Demonstrators called for the reopening of cases involving people who've been killed by police.

anti-police brutality coalition
Credit Jason Whitman / WVXU
/
WVXU
Supporters listen to a speaker during a rally hosted by Cincinnati’s Anti-Police Brutality Coalition at New Prospect Baptist Church asking for authorities to look into and reopen cases that involve the killing of Black Americans by police, Saturday, April 24, 2021.

The rally was scheduled in the wake of Derek Chauvin being found guiltythis week of murdering George Floyd in Minneapolis last year.

Scott's son Murray died after crashing his car during a police chase. Though dash-cam footage does not show the police ramming the vehicle,Scott says she thinks police somehow caused the wreck because she alleges her son's bumper was dented and later missing.

A crowd of people under a covered walkway and under shade canopies held signs and chanted Murray's name. The steady rain kept people from marching, but they held signs calling for justice and the prosecution of local police officers who have killed people.

anti-police brutality coalition
Credit Jason Whitman / WVXU
/
WVXU
Supporters during a rally hosted by Cincinnati’s Anti-Police Brutality Coalition at New Prospect Baptist Church asking for authorities to look into and reopen cases involving the killing of Black Americans by police, Saturday, April 24, 2021.

Audrey DuBose and Anternitia O'Neal were the other mothers who spoke on behalf of their sons.

DuBose's son Sam was shot and killed by a University of Cincinnati police officer in 2015. While a settlement in a civil case was reached roughly a year later, former officer Ray Tensinghas not been convicted of wrongdoing.

Anternitia O'Neal says monetary compensation for deaths don't matter "because my son was worth more than that."

In 2012, Cincinnati Police Officer Orlando Smith shot and killed Dontez O'Neal in Avondale, saying he had a weapon. His mother disputes that. She wants the case to be reopened and investigated.

"There's no justice," she said. "Once you take a life you can't bring them back. But he needs to be accountable and responsible for the wrongdoing that he did to my child."

anternitia o'neal
Credit Jason Whitman / WVXU
/
WVXU
Robyn Scott speaks during a rally hosted by Cincinnati’s Anti-Police Brutality Coalition at New Prospect Baptist Church, Saturday, April 24, 2021.

Several speakers during the rally said the Chauvin verdict was welcome, but it doesn't create the systemic change they want to prevent deaths caused by police.

"We got a verdict, and I'm happy that we got the verdict," O'Neal  said. "So there was accountability on that and with that cop... You know, there's thousands of families, thousands of families all across the world that want that same justice. We're excited about what happened. You know, we're excited. But we are suffering ourselves. We need justice, too. It's a lot of George Floyds."

Jolene Almendarez is the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants who came to San Antonio in the 1960s. She was raised in a military family and has always called the city home. She studied journalism at San Antonio College and earned a bachelor's degree in Journalism and Public Communications from the University of Alaska Anchorage. She's been a reporter in San Antonio and Castroville, Texas, and in Syracuse and Ithaca, New York.