Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke says Miami's state attorney has fooled African-Americans in the city.
On Memorial Day 2011, cops from Miami Beach and Hialeah fired at least 116 bullets into the vehicle of 22-year-old Raymond Herisse. He was hit 16 times and killed instantly. Four innocent bystanders were wounded.
Now it looks like the police will get away with it.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle could soon announce that no criminal charges will be filed against police, according to the local blog Random Pixels. (A Rundle spokesperson told the blog he "wasn't aware" of the announcement.) If that is the case, Rundle has again failed African Americans in Miami.
In the past 20 years, Rundle hasn't indicted a single cop who shot an unarmed black man. She always uses the same excuse: The cases are too difficult to prosecute because the courts and laws are on the side of the officers. In a recent New York Times article about the lack of prosecution of trigger-happy cops, Rundle claimed her office conducts thorough investigations of police shootings. "It is much better to make the 100 percent decision you are going to tell the community about when you have 100 percent of the information," she said.
Yet Rundle has no problem prosecuting weak cases when it makes her look good. She holds big press conferences to announce charges against corrupt black public officials, but ends up losing the cases at trial, like it happened with former city commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones.
If prosecutors in Jacksonville can win a conviction against Michael Dunn, the 47-year-old software engineer who ruthlessly killed an unarmed African-American teenager and claimed self-defense, Rundle can certainly nail the rogue cops who have no respect for a black person's life.
Unfortunately, the African-American community won't hold Rundle accountable. She still has strong support among black voters. I've come across many black activists and politicians who say they love her. They trot her out in Liberty City and Overtown during election season, praising her work. They proclaim, "Kathy's our girl," and hold up signs telling people to vote for her. She sits up there during community events, smiling at us.
Occasionally, a prosecutor has to take a chance in the name of justice. It's time for Rundle to roll the dice. Lives hang in the balance.
Tune into Luke on the Andy Slater Show every Tuesday from 2 to 5 p.m. on Miami's Sports Animal, 940 AM.
Follow Luke on Twitter: @unclelukereal1 and @unclelukesempir.
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