Michelle Cusseaux is another female victim of the year 2014

Just like Aura Rosser, whose case we discussed in our previous post, Cusseaux was mentally ill. In August 2014, when she was killed, three police officers came to her apartment as a part of court-ordered mental-health pick up. As it was reported, she wouldn’t open the door and the officers saw her holding a hammer what they considered a threat. Sergeant Percy Dupra shot her in self defense. She was 50 years old.

Just a few days prior to that, Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, Missouri. Both of the stories became a cry for police reforms and racial justice.

Phoenix, Arizona, where Michelle was murdered the state was protesting and hundreds demanded an independent investigation. The police found that the shooting was outside department policy but the police officers did not receive charges.

A big step further to the justice was that it turned out that Sergeant Percy Dupra was in violation of department rules. After the shooting Dupra was demoted to officer but the trial was held to either soften his punishment or cancel at all. The hearing was closed to the public so all the details will never be realeased to the emotional people.

Later on it was proposed that police officers wore body cameras for the sake of both, the cops and the citizens. In September 2015 Phoenix police received a federal grant to increase the number of such cameras. It is planned that the number will double to about 300 cameras. It was one of he 73 social and governmental institutions to receive the funding while 285 applied for it.