In another tiring case of police brutality, Tuesday night Magdiel Sanchez was fatally shot by two Oklahoma City Police officers. According to the police department, this is the fifth officer-involved shooting in the city this year. Despite cries from neighbors that Sanchez was deaf and did not know what the officers were saying, Lieutenant Matthew Lindsey and Sergeant Christopher Barnes both fired shots in Sanchez.
Why officers were called to the scene and what happened
Lt. Matthew Lindsey was responding to a Hit And Run accident that evening when a witness stated that the vehicle involved went to an address nearby.
Upon arriving to the home, Lindsey saw Sanchez. Sanchez had a metal pipe, roughly two feet long, with a looped, leather handle. Lindsey then called for backup, which is when Sgt. Christopher Barnes arrived.
The officers ordered Sanchez to drop his weapon and get on the ground. At this point, witnesses were yelling that Sanchez was deaf and could not understand the officers. When Sanchez got closer to the officers, they both fired shots and killed Sanchez. The officers claim that they did not know that Sanchez was deaf, despite the yelling of witnesses. Many feel as if the officers ignored the shouts of the witnesses.
Several witnesses explained that Sanchez was developmentally disabled. He could not hear or talk.
One witness stated that he always walked around with a stick, or the metal pipe described because there are many stray dogs around the neighborhood. One neighbor, only two houses away, said that she heard five or six gunshots.
Sanchez was pronounced dead at the scene.
Trials of police shootings
The case is being investigated as a criminal case by the homicide unit of the department.
After the findings are turned over to the Oklahoma County District Attorney's Office and it is decided whether the shooting was justified, the police department will have an internal investigation.
Although some officers in the department wear body cameras, neither officer at the scene of this crime had body cameras. It has been announced that the vehicle involved in the hit and run accident was driven by Sanchez's father and that Sanchez had nothing to do with the accident.
Since 2014, there has been an increase in protests against police violence and brutality, and for good reason. Sanchez is the 712 person in the United States to be shot and killed by police this year alone. There have been many other protests for people killed by police, primarily Black Americans, but other minorities as well. Earlier this year there were protests when the officer who shot Terrence Crutcher was acquitted. Just this past weekend, there were several protests in St. Louis for a similar case.
The officers involved in the case of Magdiel Sanchez have been placed on administrative leave.
