I Don't Know Whether To Cheer Or Cry...

     Browsing through the headlines and short blurbs of stories I came across a story which made me feel like maybe, just maybe, there is a shot at stopping this road we're (the country, this society) going down. That perhaps someone is listening  and realizes that we need some healing; that we need  some reactions to some actions to occur that will give people a glimmer of hope of the world  getting better. This is the story:

Va. Officer Guilty of Voluntary Manslaughter in Shooting Death of 18-Year-Old William Chapman

On Thursday, a jury convicted the now-former Portsmouth, Va., Police Officer Stephen Rankin of voluntary manslaughter in the death of 18-year-old William Chapman.

Stephen   Rankin                         William Chapman III

A Virginia jury found a white former police officer guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the April 2015 shooting death of an unarmed black teen who was accused of shoplifting, ABC News reports.

Former Portsmouth, Va. Police Officer Stephen Rankin, who was fired from the police force as he awaited trial, fatally shot 18-year-old William Chapman II in the face and chest outside a Wal-Mart after a security guard accused the teen of shoplifting. Rankin claimed that Chapman had resisted arrest. There was no video recording of the shooting, and testimony conflicted on the details, ABC reports.Prosecutors had argued that Rankin could have used non-deadly force, underlining that every witness, with the exception of Rankin himself, had testified that the teen had his hands up.However, Rankin’s defense claimed that the then-police officer had had to shoot after a stun gun failed to stop Chapman.ABC reports that the jurors—eight black and four white—began their deliberations Tuesday. Rankin, The Guardian reports, had been charged with first-degree murder and using a firearm to commit a felony, however, the judge had given jurors the option to convict on lesser charges.According to The Guardian, Chapman’s mother, Sallie, cried as the verdict was read. Rankin claimed that he had walked up to Chapman to discuss the shoplifting accusation and was preparing to handcuff him when the teen refused to obey orders and started to struggle. Rankin said he used his stun gun, but that Chapman knocked it away.Rankin acknowledged that he drew his weapon and ordered Chapman to “get to the ground.” He claimed that the teen started screaming, “Shoot me,” before charging him from about 6 feet away, ABC reports. Rankin said he experienced “tunnel vision” and, fearing for his life, fired his weapon twice.“I had no reason to think he was going to stop attacking me,” Rankin said. “I was scared.”Some witnesses did back up Rankin’s story, saying that it looked as if Chapman “went after the officer with throwing fists, and it looked like he knocked a Taser out of the officer’s hands.”However, others testified that Chapman never charged the officer.Regardless, prosecutor Stephanie Morales said Rankin could have used nonlethal force to subdue the teen.      Posted by Breanna Edwards - August 4, 2016                         

And then on the heels of that joy comes this story. Warning: The violence in the video is upsetting enough, but the cries of Earledreka White after he drags her out of camera view are full of such utter pain and anguish, it brought tears to my eyes.

Video Shows Houston Officer Attack Woman at Traffic Stop Who Called 911 Because She Feared Him

Newly released video footage may support the story of a black woman in Houston who called 911 because she was afraid of the officer who pulled her over.

 In March a black woman by the name of Earledreka White was pulled over by a Houston police officer for crossing the double white line. Soon afterward she called 911 because she was afraid of the cop. She said to the dispatcher, “I would like another officer to come out here. My heart is racing. I’m really afraid,” according to Raw Story.

White, 28, ended up being charged with resisting arrest and was jailed for two days. She reportedly feared for her life there, concerned that she might end up like Sandra Bland, who mysteriously died in Texas a few days after she was arrested for a routine traffic stop.

Raw Story reports that after an investigation in April, the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County concluded that the officer had done nothing wrong, despite White’s claims of harassment and that he threatened to use a Taser on her.

Now, however, a newly released surveillance video could back up her case. The footage shows White on the phone with a dispatcher, with the officer in front of her, until the situation escalates and the cop begins to grab for her and get aggressive.

“This is obviously a police officer who needs some training on how to de-escalate a situation, and I would think it would be especially important in today’s climate,” said Houston NAACP President James Douglas.

White’s attorney, Zack Feriettea, thinks that charges against his client should be dropped, saying, “I’m as pro law enforcement as they come, but that’s not good police conduct.

“You can’t escalate a situation and then claim someone is ‘resisting arrest.’ That’s ridiculous,” Feriettea added.