If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2023 demands. Behind him stood two rookies. She waited, but Sharpton never came. By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from Mother Jones and our partners. Owens sped two blocks back to Lillibridge and gathered up a posse, according to his statement to the police. Not to worry: The city had its own welfare system, decades before Lyndon Johnsons Great Society. A slender, pimply faced kid, JeRean was not an intimidating figure. They made it to the trauma ward, where JeRean was pronounced dead. There was no note. 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint. [12], Two weeks prior to the incident, a Detroit police officer had been killed in the line of duty while attempting to arrest a suspect. Weekley claimed his gun accidentally went off as he struggled with the girls grandmother, Mertilla Jones. After the finale aired, we didn't know whether they're still together or not until the reunion on March 4, but a little social media sleuthing told us they were still . "(Jones is) the one who gave (Owens) the gun to kill their brother. They threw a flash-bang grenade through the window of the lower unit and kicked open its wooden door, which was also unlocked. And America is buying. Its too late.. In August 2014, he was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison on four counts, including false imprisonment and felony cruelty to children. In October 2011, he was charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment with a gun. As officer Joseph Weekley walks free, another community is demanding answers about the increasing militarisation of law enforcement. It was 12:40 am on Sunday, May 16, 2010. Its always like that. Thats a hell of a pair of bookends, I offered. They were wondering if the Rust Belt cancer had metastasized and was creeping to Los Angeles and London and Barcelona. Outside, Television was watching them. The bullet hit a child. This dental device was sold to fix patients' jaws. [20] He pushed his way inside, protected by a ballistic shield. What occurred next has been disputed by police officers, bystanders, and neighboring residents. No Glue or Lace Hiring Black Folks. Sharptons people called JeReans mother, Lyvonne Cargill, promising to come over to her house after Aiyanas funeral. But even he couldnt stanch the tsunami of red ink; the deficit ballooned more than $140 million under his guidance. And Ive got to say in all my years in the department, Ive never used a flash-bang in a case like this.. Sherrors was killed by a stray bullet while cutting a friends hair on a front porch just 27 days after JeRean died. Somebody should have told company executives back in New York that they had wildly overpaid. The smell was beastly. and Weekley for the unlawful use of excessive force. Then she introduced me to her 14-year-old son DeErion, whose remains sat in an urn on the mantel. [30], Allison Howard, a videographer and photographer with A&E who was also present at the raid, was indicted on obstruction of justice and perjury for allegedly "copying, showing or giving video footage that she shot of the raid to third parties". They want to blame her parents and her aunt who is engaged to the murder suspect. Paramedics say it is routinely much longer. I saw him in the face of my sister, who died a violent death in a filthy section of Detroit a decade ago. Neighbor Paul Jameson, a former soldier whose wife had called in the break-in to 911, said the rookies ran toward the house and opened fire after Huff was shot. He came here for publicity. Police Chief James Craig stated, "He'll be in a limited duty capacity. Lord Jesus, I ain't never seen nothing like that in my life."--Mertilla Jones, Aiyana's grandmother. By civic malfeasance? The change to "Murder of Aiyana Jones" may have been disputed for good reason, but the current one is both neutral and standard (see Death of Ian Tomlinson). What the hell you doing up here for? [4], Officer Joseph Weekley was charged in connection with Jones' killing. Chaises mother, Britta McNeal, 39, sat on the porch staring blankly into the distance, smoking no-brand cigarettes. The gimmick was to have its reporters live there and chronicle the decline of the Motor City for one year. One year after a Detroit police assault team shot 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones to death in her home while A&E's "First 48" TV show was filming, neither Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy nor U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has brought charges against those responsible. A half-dozen masked officers of. African American History: Research Guides & Websites, Global African History: Research Guides & Websites, African American Scientists and Technicians of the Manhattan Project, Envoys, Diplomatic Ministers, & Ambassadors, Foundation, Organization, and Corporate Supporters. 2023 www.detroitnews.com. The silent suffering.. Scott said a civil suit had been filed and an appeal made to US attorney general Eric Holder to pursue a case for the violation of Aiyanas civil rights. Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. [59], On April 2, 2015, nearly five years following Jones's death, Officer Weekley was returned to active duty as a Detroit police officer. In 2007, he attacked a cop and tried to take his gun. If he didn't give him the gun, they feel like their brother would still be alive, and Aiyana would still be alive.". But police officials have refused to discuss how one got shot in the foot. Family: 7-year-old shot by police was asleep. He got paid exactly what he was supposed to be paid.. A good kid with average grades, JeRean went to Southeastern High, which is situated in an industrial belt of moldering Chrysler assembly plants. It feels like there aint no love no more.. Officer Joseph Weekley, the lead commandowhod been featured before on another A&E show, Detroit SWATburst into the house. He gives details of the way streets look like at night, and gives a captivating detail of girl's father suffering from insomnia. "[42][43] Impoverished communities such as Detroit, which is almost 83% black and has a poverty rate of 39%, have been on the receiving end of a decades-long war on drugs, which has made the US the country with the largest number of people behind bars, ahead of China and Russia. In 2019, Jones' family agreed to an $8.5 million wrongful death lawsuit settlement against the city of Detroit in connection with the raid. Assistant prosecutor Rob Moran told the judge that the misdemeanor was being dropped in the "best interests of justice." People involved. The mayors office is said to have a copy, as well as the Michigan State Police, who are now handling the investigation. AS SUMMER DRAGGED on, the story of Aiyana faded from even the regional press. . As the black population grew, so did black frustration over poor housing and rock-fisted police. Even in Detroit, a predominantly black city. Little Aiyana's death is heartbreaking! Outside, Television was watching them. Danny Wilcox Frazier is a contributing photographer for Mother Jones. In this shit, a one-year-old played next door, barefoot. It's hurting me. Thats five times as many as New York, in a city one-tenth the size. The lawsuit charges Rowe[who?] Lil James brought along a .357 Magnumat the behest of Jones, Detective Williams testified, because Jones was afraid someone would try to steal his diamond Cartier glasses.. I know society looks at a person like me and wants me to go away, she said. Oddly enough, that's what supposedly happened to a beautiful 7-year-old girl named Aiyana Jones. The beavers disappeared from the river around 1930. There are no fewer than two TV dramas, two documentaries, and three reality programs being filmed here. Sheffield came to see Cargill. She denied grabbing the weapon. Then eight, then eleven. Over the next 50 years, Detroits East Side would become the worlds machine shop, its factory floor. City of Detroit Corporation CounselLawrence Garciahas treated the family with utter disrespect and disdain. That was before he canceled a planned press conference to discuss the upcoming case. "It bothers them," she said. Aiyana Stanley-Jones was 7 years old when she was killed by a single bullet to the head. There were even toys on the lawn. [12] She was one of three children of the couple and had four halfsiblings. European intellectuals wondered at the whirl of building and spending in the new America. Was Detroit an outlier or an epicenter? But the fact is Detroit and its suburbs were dying 40 years ago. But I felt unraveling this one death could help diagnose what has gone wrong in this city, so I decided to retrace the events leading up to that pitiable moment on the porch on Lillibridge Street. Dr. Death. Were taking whats left.. Two trials against Officer Joseph Weekley ended without verdicts on a charge of reckless use of a gun. You might say that the homicide of Aiyana is the natural conclusion to the disease from which she suffered, Schmidt told me. Furthermore, the police department and unnamed supervisors of the Special Response Team in the city of Detroit were being sued for violating the civil rights of Aiyana Jones through their training and policy procedure. The settlement was finalized just days prior to the scheduled civil trial. Juries twice failed to reach a verdict in Weekleys case, first in June 2013 and then in October 2014. But if it wasnt for them, the city population would have sunk further than it did. What the fuck do you think? he said. Weekley, who retired from the police department in 2019,claimed Mertilla Jones grabbed his rifle, causing it to discharge. The city grew to 1.3 million people from 300,000 after Ford opened his Model T factory. He looked at Chauncey Owens the wrong way, detectives say. 3) Weekley's claims that Mertilla Jones grabbed . Three ISO members describe what happened when a neo-Nazi . Both trials ended with hung juries. Aiyana was killed when police raided a house to capture a murder suspect. Aiyana Stanley-Jones was seven years old and asleep on a couch with her grandmother when Detroit police raided their east side home looking for a murder suspect in 2010. Then there is the thought that Detroit is simply a boomtown that went bust the minute Henry Ford began to build it. held a small rally in memory of Jones. So is the house across the street. [65][unreliable source?] He, too, was about to graduate from Southeastern High. His brother stood over the dead man, a pistol in his hand, keeping an eye on the door in case someone walked in wanting to settle things. Thats good news until you realize that in Detroit, some 500 fires are set every single month. Young Municipal Center in Detroit. The Rev. For instance, in 2008 a man was shot in the head. Officials said Gibson ran out the front of the house. I saw the tape and wrote about its existence after the killing of Aiyana, but the story went nowhere until two months later, when someone in City Hall leaked a copy to the local ABC affiliate. Then they said he jumped out a back window. What the fuck you looking at?. In Detroit, a new car costs more than the average house. Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox. Three officers shot, standoff follows in Kansas City, Mo., police say, Vanessa Bryant, family settles claims over Kobe crash site photos for $28.5M. "They said he'll be on parole until 2030, and he or his family can't be around my family. Aiyana Stanley-Jones was seven years old and asleep on a couch with her grandmother when Detroit police raided their east side home looking for a murder suspect in 2010. There are at least 50 corpses on hold in his morgue cooler, some unidentified, others whose next of kin are too poor to bury them. You will count 34 churches, a dozen liquor stores, six beauty salons and barber shops, a funeral parlor, a sprawling Chrysler engine and assembly complex working at less than half-capacity, and three dollar storesbut no grocery stores. They had time, a Detroit police detective told me. Ive seen him in the faces of soldiers when I was covering the Iraq War. The city provided clothing, fuel, rent, and $10 every week to adults for food; children got $5. Mertilla Jones, 46, and her grandaughter, Aiyana Jones, 7, were asleep on a couch in their lower flat's front room at about 12:30 a.m. when police tossed an incendiary stun grenade through the window directly above the couch. Word of the free milk and honey made its way down South, and the poor Negros and hillbillies flooded in. So there should have been a parade with confetti and tanks of lemonade, but instead, the complaints about overaggressive cops began to roll in. As a reporter, Ive worked from New York to St. Louis to Los Angeles, and Detroit is the only big city I know of that doesnt put out a crime blotter tracking the days mayhem. The posse allegedly included Aiyanas father, Charles C.J. Jones. Editors note: On October 4, 2011, following a yearlong investigation by the Michigan state police, Officer Weekley was charged with involuntary manslaughter and careless discharge of a firearm. You should go, he said to me, shattering the silence with a wave of his hand. [12] Owens was in the upstairs apartment. For Aiyana, it's the irony of the portrait circulating the Web: The smiling 7-year-old in her freshest plaits and multicolored barrettes, literally surrounded by a trifecta of white Disney princesses-blonde Cinderella, brunette Snow White and redhead Ariel, the Little Mermaid. Jones new family had been on the drift for the past few years as he tried to pull it together. My daughter got love, honor, and respect. The family of a 7-year-old girl who was fatally shot during a May 2010 police raid is suing the Detroit officer involved in the incident, Detroit News reports.. He might have smirked. Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do. [6][7][8] [16], Aiyana Jones was the daughter of Charles Jones and Dominika Stanley. As recently as this week, Fieger said in a press release, thatto date, theCity of Detroithas refused to participate in good faith in any resolution regarding Aiyana's death and continue to deny the family justice. Forget what you saw, little man. On May 16, 2010, 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones was shot and killed in her sleep by Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley after he accidentally entered the wrong apartment in an unannounced SWAT team raid. [24] Geoffrey Fieger, the family's lawyer, said the police fired the shot that struck Aiyana from outside the home, possibly through the open front door. In an echo of deaths at police hands that rocked the US last year, including those of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York, Officer Weekley is white and Stanley-Jones was black. The environment got nothing to do with kids.. Behind the door was Jason Gibson, 25, a violent man with a history of gun crimes, assaults on police, and repeated failures to honor probationary sentences. Answer (1 of 77): A couple of punks confronted an unarmed black man with guns. Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley in court in Detroit, Mich. on June 18, 2013 during his first trial. Why you looking at me? said Owens, getting off the moped. "This was an assassination by video," said Roland Lawrence as he and others watched a small plane . 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