Unarmed black man shot while lying face down on road.

I can't be the only white American alarmed by the videos surfacing lately.  If a devil's advocate says it's because of more body cameras and dashboard cams on cops along with people caring smart phones, doesn't that mean police have been using fatal measures when it's not necessary so often that we're starting to look like a third world country?

Here's what we know on this latest case: the victim was the target of an undercover sting operation for drugs and guns.  He is a convicted felon.  Nobody is saying this was a good guy here.

But he was unarmed.  And when pinned to the pavement, a 73-year-old  reserve Deputy mistakenly pulls his gun instead of his taser and shoots the man.  You can tell in the video it was clearly a mistake.  A stupid and fatal one...but you can tell he immediately freaked out after pulling the trigger.

The part that alarms me the most comes next.  The cops cuff the suspect as he mutters, "He shot me, man. Oh, my god. I’m losing my breath."  One of the officers then presses his knee into the back of the suspect's head, pushing his face into the pavement and says, "F--- your breath."

As a white man that not only has close black friends, but has black family members...I am beyond shocked by the recent events.  I am thankful to live in Kalamazoo.  I have nothing but good things to say about the police I've interacted with here.

But I should NOT feel safer anywhere in the US if I get pulled over because I'm white.

This shooting happened less than a week after an unarmed black man, Walter Scott, was shot several times in the back in South Carolina by officer Michael Slager.

This video comes to us from Tulsa, OK.  (WARNING: VIDEO IS GRAPHIC)

 

More From WKFR