The story of the April 4, 2018 NYPD killing of Saheed Vassell is big news in Brooklyn, in the U.S. and in the Jamaican press.
The Jamaican-American Vassell family, who live in all parts of the world—from Jamaica, to Canada, to England, to Japan, to America—will all congregate at St. Anthony’s church Thursday and Friday to say farewell to their son and brother.
Three of the Vassell children spoke to the Amsterdam News about their loss and pursuit for justice.
Telah Vassell said that the Navy paid for her to fly out from Japan just two days after she learned of the killing.
Andwele Vassell had to fly back from Jamaica. “We are a very big family,” he told this reporter on the “Back to Basics” radio show on AllBlackradio.com. “My parents are strong and my father is the backbone. Saheed was very well known in the Crown Heights community. He goes to church every morning. He’s helping the elderly people with their groceries. Every store owner knows him.”
“After he was shot, he lay on his side soaking in his own blood—and he was handcuffed,” Telah Vassell said.
The growing crowd were yelling at the cops, the family said, demanding answers.
Andwele Vassell said, “His son saw him, my younger brother saw him.”
Younger brother Javohnn Vassell added, “I was still able to see his blood—25 minutes after. The police were holding me, dragging me, pushing me away. All they are going to tell me is ‘Stay back.’ Somebody had to pick me up and walk me, because I was devastated. I walked to Kings County Hospital. I just hoped he was alive.”
“An unmarked car pulled up in the middle of the day and both plainclothes and uniformed officers jumped out and shot Saheed Vassell in cold blood,” said Anthonine Pierre, a representative for Communities United for Police Reform and deputy director of the Brooklyn Movement Center. “This was a hit on a member of our community. Mayor de Blasio is responsible for the NYPD’s inappropriate propaganda campaign against Saheed Vassell that has sought to criminalize and focus on him, the victim of police violence, instead of the actions of NYPD officers who killed him. What the de Blasio administration’s NYPD is doing is not transparency or accountability. It’s time for the mayor to put an end to this sham and ensure both transparency and accountability related to this killing. He must require the NYPD to be truly transparent, releasing the names of the officers involved in this killing and information on any history of misconduct they may have, all footage of officers’ actions immediately before, during and after the killing, and provide public explanation of the Strategic Response Group and anti-crime unit’s notifications and roles versus that of Neighborhood Coordination Officers.”
After the shooting in Crown Heights, the police immediately put out videos and still pictures of Vassell walking the streets with a metal pipe. Raising questions about gentrification in Crown Heights, the family supporters note that even though “everyone in the community knew him,” someone—perhaps new to the area—called 911 and said that there was a man with the gun. Minutes later the SRG unit hopped out of a car and fired fatal bullets.
“Talking to people in the community, to people who were there in my brother’s presence, they said he said he didn’t have that object in his hand,” said Andwele Vassell. He said he heard that his brother had put the silver pipe away by the time the cops arrived. Yet, “They came out shooting—no questions asked.” As for the videos released by the NYPD of a man roaming the streets pointing a welder’s pipe at people, Telah Vassell said, “We are only seeing snippets of these videos. They have been edited, but
no one seem to be scared or nervous. Everyone knows Saheed, everyone had such loving things to say about him, so no one seemed scared for their lives. Saheed was a welder, so he was attracted to metal objects. If he sees one he might take it and work on it, because to him that’s art.”
She continued, “Yes he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The city told my parents that you can’t force an adult to take their medication.”
She added, “His son Tyshawn and his mom are holding up. Everyone loved Saheed. He was an artist, a welder, he’s talented on the mic. You’re going to have that little old lady who he helped with her laundry—she’s waiting on him, but he’s not coming. It’s not just the family that is affected, but the whole neighborhood.”
Activist Victor Dempsey is working with the family. The brother of police shooting victim Delrawn Small said, “Working with Families United for Justice we are helping the Vassell family after Saheed was murdered by the NYPD. We are here giving emotional support and helping them through the process of what they are going through. We are hoping that the Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office get an indictment for these officers.”
He added, “Look at the time of the day… the sun’s out, the whole community’s out. Just imagine other people could have got shot. People could have been running for their lives.”
Asked at a news conference “why the city doesn’t release the names of officers who are involved” as the community and family member have asked, Mayor Bill de Blasio replied, “I understand their concern, but the protocol we have I think is the right one. It respects the safety and the confidentiality of the officers as well. But remember, there’s going to be a full investigation here by the NYPD and a full investigation by the attorney general. And then that will determine whether any further action is needed. And, of course, anything that the attorney general determines would be a public proceeding. So, I think things are in the right balance now.”
Pressed further, the mayor continued, “Again, I think it’s trying to respect the safety of everyone involved. There’s a consciousness about this on many levels. You also know we did not release the audio of the 9-1-1 calls out of respect for the confidentiality and safety of those callers. We did transcripts instead, so I think there’s a parallel there. Again, I think the situation is appropriate because this is before there will be the full investigation. There will be a full NYPD investigation and clearly a full and independent investigation by the attorney general. That’s the right venue to determine the whatever actions are needed next, and that’s obviously a venue in which, in the attorney general’s case, the names of the officers will come forward if there was further action taken.”
One week after the killing at a news conference at City Hall, Vassell’s family was joined by other mothers whose children were killed by NYPD officers: Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner; Hawa Bah, mother of Mohammad Bah; Carol Gray, mother of Kimani Gray; and Constance Malcolm, mother of Ramarley Graham, along with Joshua Lopez, nephew of John Collado. Their focus was to demand real transparency from de Blasio and the NYPD, full accountability for officers’ action.
They condemned the efforts by the de Blasio administration and NYPD over the past week to engage in a campaign to justify the killing by criminalizing Vassell and focusing public attention on him, rather than provide transparency about the actions of the officers who shot and killed him.
“Saheed should still be with us, but instead he was stolen from us by NYPD officers who killed him in a hail of at least 10 bullets in broad daylight, wrongly claiming he had a gun when he did not,” said Lorna and Eric Vassell, Saheed Vassell’s parents. “Instead of the city being transparent and pursuing the truth, the de Blasio administration and NYPD have been engaged in a propaganda campaign that is trying to justify killing Saheed, placing all of the focus on him even though he was the victim and he can no longer speak for himself. It is shameful and Mayor de Blasio must put it to an end, and commit to the city government that our tax dollars fund being transparent about why and how my son was killed. The real questions and focus should be on the officers who appeared to hop out of their cars and immediately started shooting at Saheed. We are demanding that Mayor de Blasio and the NYPD release the names of the officers involved in this killing, their misconduct histories and outcomes, as well as all video of officers’ actions immediately before, during and after the killing. It cannot be OK for officers to simply kill New Yorkers based on false claims and assumptions. We need answers, justice and accountability for the killing of our son, and that is not possible without the de Blasio administration committing to real transparency and ending its scam of selective releases and edited videos that we’ve seen so far.”
The family has slammed the use of the Strategic Response Unit as a “hyper-aggressive anti-crime unit.” As the Amsterdam News requested the names of the officers involved from the NYPD and city officials the response varied from crickets to not until their records had been released.
“The administration and NYPD withholding the names of officers involved in killings of civilians is unacceptable and deepens mistrust in the department and the process,” said Mandela Jones of Communities United for Police Reform.
Pierre added, “Mayor de Blasio can no longer cast blame on past administrations for the at least four police killings of Black and Latinx civilians in the last nine months, nor the at least 15 police killings of civilians during his four years as mayor.”
Thursday, April 19, there will be Saheed Vassell’s wake at St. Anthony’s Church at 425 Utica Ave. (at Empire Boulevard) from 3 p.m. Friday, April 20, the 34-year-old father of a 15-year-old son and sibling to four brothers and five sisters will be funeralized.