Jessie Hernandez Didn’t Deserve to Die: Teen Latina Lesbian Killed By Police
feature image by Aaron Ontiveroz/ Denver Post
Jessie Hernandez, a 17-year-old Latina lesbian, was killed by Denver police on Monday morning, sparking outrage from her friends, family and community who are demanding justice for yet another example of unnecessary deadly force by police against a young person of color.
via Facebook
The incident occurred Monday morning around 6:30 a.m. when Denver police responded to a call reporting a “suspicious” vehicle parked in an alley in the Park Hill neighborhood. Police Chief Robert White said the first police officer to arrive on the scene, Gabriel Jordan, ran the license plate and found the car was reported stolen so he called for backup. Hernandez was the driver of the car with four teen passengers. White said as Jordan and the other patrol officer, Daniel Greene, got off their vehicles, Hernandez struck Jordan’s leg with the car, which led to both officers firing several shots at Hernandez. A neighbor’s cell phone captured video showing officers searching Hernandez’s lifeless body, face down on the curb, when finally an EMT arrived. Hernandez’s autopsy shows she was shot multiple times and her death was ruled a homicide.
The Denver Police Department and District Attorney Mitch Morrissey’s office are investigating the shooting. Jordan and Greene are on paid administrative leave. The other teenagers who were in the car are not being charged, White said on Thursday.
via 9news
Witnesses and police have conflicting accounts of what happened in the alley that morning. On Wednesday, Hernandez’s friend who was in the car at the time of the shooting, told a local news station Hernandez was shot first and then lost control of the car, which then struck the police officer, breaking his leg.
“When the cops walked up, they were on [Jessica’s] side of the car, and they shot the window and they shot her. That’s when she wrecked, and that’s when the cop got hit.”
White reports the police officers asked the teenagers several times to get out of the car, which they did not. Afterwards the car started moving towards one of the officers, he “feared for his safety” and shot at Hernandez with the other officer also shooting at the her.
This is the fourth police shooting in seven months of people who were said to be using a moving car as a weapon; only one other incident was deadly. Denver’s Independent Monitor, Nick Mitchell, announced Tuesday he is investigating the police department’s practices and policies on firing on moving vehicles. Denver’s Department of Public Safety and Police Department are also conducting their own investigations on their policies, they announced Wednesday. Local news station, 7News found two recent reports by the U.S. Department of Justice stating it is a “poor choice” for officers to shoot at moving vehicles.
“Shooting at vehicles creates an unreasonable risk unless such a real and articulable threat exists. First, it is difficult to shoot at a moving car with accuracy. Missed shots can hit bystanders or others in the vehicle. Second, if the driver is disabled by the shot, the vehicle may become unguided, making it potentially more dangerous.”
One DPD policy states officers can open fire on moving vehicles if they believe the vehicle or suspect pose a threat of death or injury to officers or others and believe there is no other choice.
Jessie was beloved by her friends and family. Friends described Hernandez as funny, outgoing, wild and fun at a vigil held Monday night. They say she was the type of person “to bring you up,” who “made you smile,” and “was never in a bad mood.”
“We shouldn’t have to go through this! We shouldn’t have to… have loss from anything, especially from the people we expect to protect us,” Nickie Garcia, Jessie’s friend said sobbing. “It’s not ok and it needs to stop.”
On Tuesday community activists and protestors, including Hernandez’s family members, went to District Attorney Mitch Morrissey’s office to demand transparency in the investigation and justice for her death. The protestors carried signs that said “Cowards Shoot Girls” and “Justice for Jesse[sic].”
“How would you feel if your kid got killed?” Jose Castaneda, Hernandez’s cousin said to Doug Jackson and Lamar Sims at the DA’s office. “They can fix his [the struck officer’s] leg. What are they going to do to bring her home?”
On Wednesday evening, Denver Freedom Riders, a local anti-racist organization, organized a protest at the District 2 police station where the officers who killed Hernandez are stationed. Two hundred protestors showed up chanting in English and Spanish, “Jessie’s Life Matters.” Photos of Hernandez were projected onto the side of the police station and someone read a poem she wrote a couple of years ago. A few protestors met with Denver Police Commander Michael Calo inside the station.
By Brent Lewis/ Denver Post
The investigations may take months to complete; even then, investigations usually favor police officers, so the public probably will never know exactly what happened in that alley. The most important fact to note is that a young Latina lesbian was killed by police. In the wake of a national conversation about police violence and systemic racism that centers around the recent murders of black men, Jessie’s death is an awful reminder that police violence certainly affects Latin@ and LGBT communities.
Numerous studies have found that LGBT youth of color are continuously criminalized and deemed suspicious, especially trans and gender non-conforming women. A recent Lambda Legal study found 73% of LGBT respondents reported having face-to-face contact with a police officer; the study further notes the majority of the respondents felt discriminated and mistreated by law enforcement. Last September, the NAACP released a report on racial profiling by law enforcement called “Born Suspect,” noting the LGBT community faces an even greater profiling risk with police.
“[The LGBT community] faces profiling based on actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, or HIV status. This discrimination is often multi-layered when LGBT individuals are also people of color, youth, a different nationality or religion, or profiled based on their perceived immigration or socioeconomic status. As the above stories describe, the experience of this community with discriminatory policing tactics are devastating and the fight to end racial profiling must include a conscious effort to end profiling of LGBT communities.”
Jessie’s death is tragic, especially since she was so young and her friends had to witness her being killed. Was it really necessary to shoot and kill a teenage girl? The problem is the ones to evaluate that question work under a system that is unjust to people of color. Jessie didn’t deserve to die, even if she indeed used a stolen car as a weapon. Her life was taken because it was deemed unimportant and disposable because an officer decided his sense of safety was worth more than her life. It’s still very unclear to what extent Jessie posed a danger to the officers, but this situation is one that could have and should have been resolved without loss of life. Law enforcement offices are tasked with figuring out if this shooting was justified but when those same offices and systems repeatedly target and criminalize people of color, especially queer people of color, there leaves little hope that there will be justice for Jessie.