by Rémy Dambron
 |
| The police in Grand Rapids, Mich., released videos on Wednesday showing a white officer fatally shooting Patrick Lyoya (pictured above), a 26-year-old Black man, after a struggle during a traffic stop last week. The officer, who has not been named, was lying on the back of Mr. Lyoya before he appeared to shoot him in the head. In the seconds before the shooting, Mr. Lyoya and the officer wrestled on the ground and seemed to be fighting for control of the officer’s Taser. —The New York Times, April 13, 2022 |
at first
an ordinary traffic
stop, routine
suspect
you
stay in the car
get back in the car
do you have a license
your plates don’t match
do you speak english
show me your license
i said your plates don’t match
stay in the car
no stop
you can’t stand there
hey you can’t stand there
stand here no
wait STOP
grabbing him
restraining him
throwing him to the ground
with the force of the law
immunity qualified
we’ve seen this before
too many times before
released body cam footage shows
cop shoots black man
don’t watch it
hurts
(body camera shuts off)
he shoots
he shot him
the cop shot the black man
(body camera turns on)
paramedics can’t revive him
because the cop
he shot him
he shot him dead
for what
why
forgive me
for being repetitive
but another man with a badge
shows his bad intentions and
oh, did I mention?
*he shot him in the head
they called it a struggle
a fight for control over the taser
cop drawing the weapon first
ready to electrocute
the man he would instead
just shoot
but no charges filed
the investigation is ongoing
ongoing, yes
forgive me
for being repetitive but
another man with a badge shows his bad intentions
and oh, did I mention?
*he shot him in the head
his community going on
carrying his cry for help
to the city steps in protest
to say to their reps
please
enough
stop letting them shoot us
for gods sake
jesus
forgive me
for being repetitive
but another man
with a badge
shows his bad
intentions and
oh, did I mention?
*he shot him in the fucking head
Rémy Dambron is a former English teacher now Portland-based poet whose writing focuses on denouncing political corruption and advocating for social/environmental justice. With the help of his chief editor and loving wife, his works have appeared in What Rough Beast, Poets Reading the News, Writers Resist, Words & Whispers, Spillwords, Robot Butt, and The New Verse News.