Julie Cohen has a followup to the incident involving Newton resident Tim Duncan, including comments from Newton Police Chief David MacDonald.
“Newton resident Tim Duncan raised serious concerns and questions about being stopped and questioned by Newton Police Officers on May 20, 2020,” said MacDonald in an emailed statement. “We understand why he is concerned, particularly in light of the death of George Floyd just five days later, and the many other cases involving Black people and police.”
In a subsequent phone conversation, MacDonald said, “We’re following up on a fe things since Mr. Duncan made his (video) statement.”
Here’s some other relevant links:
I’m puzzled by TAB’s headline of this story. The timeline shared by the Newton Police says “one of the officers drew his firearm.”
Glad to see the TAB corrected its headline
Sigh, somebody needs to tell the mayor to stop hemming and hawing, e.g. “We’re following up on a few things,” and start showing some contrition on behalf of the department, as they most certainly would be doing if this had happened to a white venture capitalist on the south side of the Pike.
And did he genuinely use the loaded term “shooter” in order to justify the officers drawing their weapons, as in
The murder took place on May 18th and the incident with Tim Duncan took place on the 20th. I don’t think the suspect could still be considered a “shooter” at that point.
Anyway, cue the unsympathetic officers who’ve now taken to this site to tell us how the only possible way officers can defend themselves whenever there’s a perceived smidgen of danger is to point their lethal weapons at people. And how they’re not racist because they provided policing when Obama came to town!
In the first sentence I meant to say chief, not mayor
Tim Duncan wasn’t “stopped and questioned”. He was put into a life or death situation out of nowhere. He had a gun pointed at him. And as a black man, putting him into that position is exponentially more scary than it would be for me as a white man. I think it is important to acknowledge that. Please lets be clear about what happened here.
And even if he had been the “suspect” they were looking for, we are innocent until proven guilty in this country.
Bryan,
I don’t understand what you are saying. “And as a black man, putting him into that position is exponentially more scary than it would be for me as a white man.” Are you saying that if the police pulled their guns out on you, you would not be scared? Hmmm. I bet you would be just as scared as anyone else.
Dear Jeffrey,
If you don’t think that a black male having the police draw guns on him has more reason to be afraid than a white male – where have you been the last 200+ years?
Let’s keep it real.
Please.
@Michael
“If this had happened to a white venture capitalist on the South side of the pike”
With exactly the same fact pattern, this would never have happened to a white venture capitalist on the south side of the pike.
That’s the problem.
so….I may have missed something….is the Mayor/Chief of Police going to investigate this incident or is this a closed case? Are there other incidents that have gone un-reported?
Without knowing how much Mr. Duncan resembles the wanted man, who was apprehended in the same area that Duncan was detained, it is hard to draw a conclusion here.
Amy, this one was reported but I don’t recall if there was an investigation:
https://newton.wickedlocal.com/article/20150715/NEWS/150717831
According to Tim Duncan’s video, the description of the murder suspect included black, man, tall – all of which he is – but that is not enough justification for the police to “assume” this tall black man walking with his wife in the afternoon is the suspect and for 6 officers to approach with at least one gun drawn. I have no doubt Mr Duncan was scared for his life and that the police could have used a different tactic to find out he was not the suspect.
Did I miss the rest of the suspect’s description or was that it?
Aren’t there outside, independent groups who would be better at evaluating our police department than doing it in house?
Thanks, Nathan. I remember that incident. I wonder what the outcome was.
Folks might be interested in Committee Chair of Public Safety and Transportation Jake Auchincloss’ analysis of Newton Police Department Use Policies which he shared with the City Council: http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/104127
Amy, I looked up the results of that incident. See:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/09/08/emerson-college-professor-wins-traffic-case-alleges-racial-bias-from-newton-police/f7Vbx2MJ1BD3QhioFjAmyI/story.html
Amy, thanks for providing the link to Councilor Auchincloss’s document.
Where we, the public, need greater insight is how police policies become practice.
You start with goals. Then you have policies. But after policies you have training, procedures, and accountability. When you have the whole package, and combine it with leadership and high standards, you start to impact culture. This is true of any police department, not just NPD.
Let me give you an example about effective procedure I learned about in Cambridge citizen’s police academy. In Cambridge, an officer who has been involved in the pursuit of a suspect is never supposed to be in charge of bringing the prisoner into custody. That job is always left to another officer. Studies have shown that the adrenaline from pursuit and any possible altercation contributes to the possibility of prisoner abuse during transport. Procedures like this can be designed to minimize potentially tragic but predictable failures without relying completely on human restraint.
These kinds of detailed procedures can’t be imposed from outside. They take study and research and forethought. But as a community, I think we need to assure that we and the police share the ideals codified by the policies, as well as the commitment to see them put into practice most effectively. We also need to know what happens to fix the system and change behavior when policies and practices fail. That’s the accountability part.
Thanks for the link and follow-up Jane!
This makes me so sad. Mr. Duncan must have been terrified.
I don’t understand how people can insist that this doesn’t have to do with race. If there was a murderer on the loose that looked like me, a brown-haired short white woman in my 30s, would the cops have pulled a gun on me if they saw me walking down the street? The answer is no. Even if it was a very close match appearance-wise, the answer would still be no.
Description goes out “white male tall.” How many of you, walking quietly down a Newton road, does that description fit?
Here is an email petition to restore funding to critical social programs by removing the Newton PD request for 2 new cars & other items totaling $147k.
Note the library is looking at a $158k cut on a budget a quarter of the size of the PD’s.
https://t.co/1DELWUtr9m?amp=1
FYI: The Newton Police released a picture of the suspect they were looking for and eventually caught. It is on the Newton Tab’s Facebook feed.