The Implausible Death of Jimmie Sanders

Cops lie. And they don't lie very well. And it doesn't matter because prosecutors and juries can be depended upon to exonerate them every single time. But make no mistake about it, cops lie. They lie from the very beginning. Then, as facts and witnesses and videotape turn up, their initial story is revised and reshaped into something very different from the original. Oh, it isn't any closer to the truth than the first draft was and it often makes even less sense. But it doesn't matter: the fabrication just has to hold together long enough to get past a jury that is desperate to find cops innocent.

The implausible death of Jimmie Sanders last May in an Appleton, Wisconsin bar is a perfect example. The only facts that don't change are these: there was a fight, a gun was fired, the cops showed up, and a cop shot Sanders. From there, things get fluid.

In the first draft, the cops arrive to see Sanders pointing a gun at Henry Dellum, the man he'd just been fighting with. They shoot Sanders and arrest the Dellum for the illegal possession and discharge of a firearm. As far as the cops are concerned, this was just bad timing for Sanders who seems to have wrestled Dellum's gun away from him only to be confused for the shooter.

In the second draft, Dellum pulls out his gun after fighting with Sanders, fires off a round, misses, and then slips the weapon to his girlfriend to hide just before the cops show up. Video from the bar confirms this version of events but begs the question: why, if the gun was hidden away, did the cops feel compelled to shoot Sanders. But Sanders is Black so apparently investigators didn't see the urgency in resolving this contradiction. Dellum is now charged with attempted murder since, after all, he fired his gun and someone could have conceivably been killed.

The third and final version of events, stitched together by the county prosecutor, has police entering the bar to find a gun-wielding Henry Dellum bearing down on them in an attempt to escape. A cop fires four rounds at Dellum, striking him in the arm and Sanders in the back.

In this new script, Sanders has been recast as an innocent bystander, and an entirely different man is given the role of

Cops lie. And they don't lie very well. And it doesn't matter because prosecutors and juries can be depended upon to exonerate them every single time. But make no mistake about it, cops lie. They lie from the very beginning. Then, as facts and witnesses and videotape turn up, their initial story is revised and reshaped into something very different from the original. Oh, it isn't any closer to the truth than the first draft was and it often makes even less sense. But it doesn't matter: the fabrication just has to hold together long enough to get past a jury that is desperate to find cops innocent.

The implausible death of Jimmie Sanders last May in an Appleton, Wisconsin bar is a perfect example. The only facts that don't change are these: there was a fight, a gun was fired, the cops showed up, and a cop shot Sanders. From there, things get fluid.

 

The late Jimmie Sanders

In the first draft, the cops arrive to see Sanders pointing a gun at Henry Dellum, the man he'd just been fighting with. They shoot Sanders and arrest the Dellum for the illegal possession and discharge of a firearm. As far as the cops are concerned, this was just bad timing for Sanders who seems to have wrestled Dellum's gun away from him only to be confused for the shooter.

In the second draft, Dellum pulls out his gun after fighting with Sanders, fires off a round, misses, and then slips the weapon to his girlfriend to hide just before the cops show up. Video from the bar confirms this version of events but begs the question: why, if the gun was hidden away, did the cops feel compelled to shoot Sanders. But Sanders is Black so apparently investigators didn't see the urgency in resolving this contradiction. Dellum is now charged with attempted murder since, after all, he fired his gun and someone could have conceivably been killed.

The third and final version of events, stitched together by the county prosecutor, has police entering the bar to find a gun-wielding Henry Dellum bearing down on them in an attempt to escape. A cop fires four rounds at Dellum, striking him in the arm and Sanders in the back.

In this new script, Sanders has been recast as an innocent bystander, and an entirely different man is given the role of brawling with Dellum. In this version, the cop is given a new motivation for shooting and is judged, therefore, to have acted appropriately. Henry Dellum is now charged with the murder of Jimmie Sanders since it was his felonious actions that set into motion the chain of events that led to Sanders' death.

But there's a gaping flaw in this third version. We know Dellum gave his girlfriend the pistol to hide before the cops arrived. We know this because 1) she was formally charged with aiding and abetting, and 2) cops eventually retrieved Dellum's gun from where she had hidden it under her car, and 3) it was on the fucking videotape. But whoa! If Dellum gave his pistol to his girlfriend to hide, how could he have been brandishing it at police when they entered the bar? This is critical because the gun justified the shooting. No gun, no reason to fire four rounds into a crowded bar.

Yet these unlikely and contradictory facts bring us to a bizarre legal case: the cop who actually shot Jimmie Sanders is not considered responsible for his death but Henry Dellums, who never shot at (or even fought with) Sanders, is considered guilty of killing him.

And that's where we are now: one Black life ended, another Black life forfeit, and a ruthlessly fraudulent white (pseudo) supremacist injustice machine that just keeps grinding along.

America. On any given Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Or Thursday. Or.....

  brawling with Dellum. In this version, the cop is given a new motivation for shooting and is judged, therefore, to have acted appropriately. Henry Dellum is now charged with the murder of Jimmie Sanders since it was his felonious actions that set into motion the chain of events that led to Sanders' death.

But there's a gaping flaw in this third version. We know Dellum gave his girlfriend the pistol to hide before the cops arrived. We know this because 1) she was formally charged with aiding and abetting, and 2) cops eventually retrieved Dellum's gun from where she had hidden it under her car, and 3) it was on the fucking videotape. But whoa! If Dellum gave his pistol to his girlfriend to hide, how could he have been brandishing it at police when they entered the bar? This is critical because the gun justified the shooting. No gun, no reason to fire four rounds into a crowded bar.

Yet these unlikely and contradictory facts bring us to a bizarre legal case: the cop who actually shot Jimmie Sanders is not considered responsible for his death but Henry Dellums, who never shot at (or even fought with) Sanders, is considered guilty of killing him.

And that's where we are now: one Black life ended, another Black life forfeit, and a ruthlessly fraudulent white (pseudo) supremacist injustice machine that just keeps grinding along.

America. On any given Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Or Thursday. Or.....