Just Another Motion
Hey everyone, it's Jes here. Today, I want to continue the conversation about police brutality. As some of you may know, my father was a victim of police brutality back in 1993, and we are currently in a superior court fighting to get his remains back.
Yesterday, we received news that the medical examiner's office asked to be dismissed from the case, which meant I had to write another opposition explaining why they should not be dismissed. This is not just on one person, but on the entire department of the medical examiner's office. It's important for the courts to recognize that, as nobody felt the need to file negligence on the medical examiner and didn't even bother to question why the autopsy report did not match the description of the body, and why no family members came to identify the body. I believe it's the responsibility of the whole department.
It's also frustrating to see that a lot of these departments, including the police and medical examiner's departments, are asking to be dismissed from the case, saying they have immunity and shouldn't be liable for any costs. However, it's not a financial burden for them as they don't actually have to put up the financial costs. They could do all these services for free within their departments. We're simply asking them to do a proper investigation and give us justice.
It's not about money, it's about returning my father's remains. They had plenty of money to bury him and not notify us, so I believe they have plenty of money to give them back to us. This has nothing to do with a settlement, but rather the fact that these departments had the means to do the job properly.
We also received a letter from President Biden regarding the case. He recognized that the FBI looked into it in 2014 and 2015, but we were not happy with their answer. Biden told us we could reach out to the New York FBI department if we needed to, but in order for them to do so, they need the body. So again, we're asking the courts to release the body and let the New York FBI look into the case and conduct a proper investigation.
It's important to continue these conversations about police brutality, as we lost 1176 people to police brutality in 2022 alone. We need justice for these families, and it's frustrating that only 1% of these incidents are reported in the news.
As a person of color, it's difficult to have the financial means to hire attorneys and experts to get everything done that needs to be done. The court system wants to tell us that we need to hire all these people to get our due process in court, but that's simply not true. We need to be able to understand the court system and have the time and resources to do so.
My main objective right now is getting my father's remains back. As his family, we have that right, and we believe the courts should grant us that right. It's not about prolonging this case or seeking financial compensation from individuals who may not even have the means to pay. We're simply asking for justice and for the departments responsible to do their jobs properly.
I'm hopeful that the courts will recognize the social climate we're in, where people are trying to right the wrongs of police brutality. Let's continue to have these conversations and pray for those families who are also fighting for justice.
