One of the 23 women killed by the police in 2014

Tanisha Anderson, aged 37, being described as a mentally-ill woman was actually more than that. Her whole life she a was a good student and wanted to become a broadcast journalist. When she was in her 20s she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had to take medication. On November 13, 2014 Tanisha had a bad day and got out of her family house in Cleveland wearing only a nightgown. She also had no shoes on. Joell Anderson, her brother, made a call to 911. He thought she needed to be taken to hospital

Obviously, Joell was expecting the ambulance to arrive and not the police. A little later the family called 911 again. The second set of police officers seemed ruder. The two cops, Scott Aldridge and Brian Meyers were both very experienced police officers. They told the family to stay in the house and walked Tanisha to their patrol car. What happened next has a lot in common with the other cases where black people were killed by police officers. Everything is unclear and the family did not know what exactly was happening. But at least one thing remains clear: half an hour after 911 was called for the second time, Tanisha was lying on a pavement in handcuffs. What happened was that Tanisha started objecting to go with the officers and began kicking at them. A little later she was not struggling anymore and seemed to comply but the officers found a faint pulse and called EMS. Faint pulse is a weak pulse a person has during cardiac arrest and shock. Cardiac arrest occurs when a person’s heart stops beating. Tanisha was already dead.

She was taken to the hospital and the doctors could not save her life. The cause of her death was listed as “sudden death in association with physical restraint in a prone position in association with ischemic heart disease and bipolar disorder with agitation”.

None of the officers involved in the case were fired or sanctioned. This is another episode of unfairness.