Ernest Ford

On Wednesday I met with Ernest Ford, a victim of police brutality and freelance journalist. He came prepared for our interview with an arsenal of documents about his case, as well as several flyers for his bid as a state representative. Over my first Quiznos experience Ernest described the rally he organized to protest the choking death of Sharone Coachman by police officers. Sharone was an alleged drug dealer and was trying to swallow his evidence when reprimanded by the police. On July 2, 2005, the authorities broke up Ford’s demonstration against Sharone’s death and attacked Ford in the process. The police officers involved maintain that Ernest struck first.



Professor Washington put me in contact with Ernest to begin with and informed me that his case looks promising. Ford appears to have a solid complaint against the system and how he was treated this past summer at the demonstration, with videotape to bolster his argument. Updates will follow as Ernest's case unfolds.

--Jessie

P.S. If my posts on brutality, etc. seem irrelevant to gun violence, I'm interested in exploring the relationship between police authorities and the local community. The disconnect between them seems to eliminate a sense of security in the community-- This forces people to create their own atmosphere of safety, which often manifests itself in the form of buying guns.