Police brutality and excessive force are two of the biggest issues the Black community face regularly across the world. Sadly, a 54-year-old Black woman in California was the latest victim to prove that theory as fact after she was gunned down by a Stockton police officer that fired 30 shots at her car for backing into his cruiser.
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According to NBC News, Tracy Gaeta was unarmed and posed no threat when K-9 officer Kyle Ribera shot her car up with more than two dozen bullets that proved to be fatal for the grandmother. The February 22 incident started after Gaeta was caught on surveillance video striking Ribera’s SUV at a red light. After fleeing the scene, Ribera spotted her soon after and proceeded to pursue her car. The chase ended on a dead end street, with Gaeta deciding to back into Ribera’s car which caused him to hit his head as reported by the police department.
Read the tragic details of what happened next below, via NBC News:
“According to the body camera video, Ribera then fired 18 shots into Gaeta’s car.
Her vehicle’s reverse lights remained on, and Ribera fired several more shots. After changing his service weapon’s clip, Ribera yelled for the driver to raise their hands, according to the video.
Gaeta began driving, pulling forward several feet, then reversing away from Ribera. He opened fire again, shooting more than a dozen times, according to the video.
Gaeta was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the department said.”
Adding insult to injury, a 2019 policy adopted by the Stockton Police Department actually prohibits officers from shooting at fleeing vehicles.
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Gaeta’s family isn’t immediately ready to file a lawsuit for her death, instead dedicating their time to figuring out what led to her murder in the first place. To make matters even more confusing, her family confirmed that she actually lives in Sacramento, 50 miles north of Stockton, and had no clue why she’d be so far away from home. The only inkling they came up with as a motive for her fleeing is the fact that she was suffering from depression after a recent breakup.
Let’s pray that justice is served and, once again, this can be a lesson for officers in the future to realize that fatal measures are rarely if ever necessary.
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