Comments on: Ethiopian Woman Shot By Sheriff’s Deputy During Eviction

By: mimi

mimi — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:45:07 +0000

I was just in Davis California visiting and my friends were telling me the police in this city have nothing to do since its a very peaceful university town. What a tragedy, hopefully the small ethiopian community in Davis can come together and find some solutions to help this poor woman..and God be with the poor officer too!

By: Geez

Geez — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:46:21 +0000

Language barrier could well have been a major issue in this case. Unless we wake up and admit to ourselves how limited our English is and demand to communicate with the system in a language we understand the best; tragic events like this one are bound to happen.

By: Sara: From Davis, CA

Sara: From Davis, CA — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:16:58 +0000

This is a sad story. I feel sorry for both the victim and the officer. This an example of the state of America’s economic crisis. The woman is clearly unable to afford her rent (which is very sad on its own) and the officer, who probably did not wake up that morning thinking of shooting someone, was placed in the tragic position of firing a gun – not at a criminal, but at a tenant who happens to be broke. I am relieved that no life was lost. But the issue raises a much bigger question. I have seen many times cops negotiating with dangerous criminals armed with automatic weapons and holding hostages. On this case, when a 46-year-old-woman, whose only crime is not having money to pay rent, is holding a knife inside her apartment (I am glad she did not hurt the officer). It begs the question, could the police have backed-off and negotiated for her to drop the knife? How about if the officer had killed this women? How tragic that would have been for all involved.

By: Ayele

Ayele — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:58:06 +0000

What motivated the victiom to draw a knife on the officer is not clear to me. It is sad that an Ethiopian was forced to vacate her place of residense because she couldn’t be able to afford the rent for some other reason. What can the Ethiopian community do to help the victim and get the necessary infromation from the victim herself? I may extend my help in the legal area if deatiled information is available.

Ethiopian activist for social justice from Boston, Massachusetts.