Framingham Police Department:

The Death Of Eurie Stamps December 14, 2014

Rick Holmes Metrowest Daily News

The unarmed black man was shot by a white cop, killed in police custody while he was lying face-down. At first the police wouldn't reveal the officer's name or discuss the details of the shooting. The district attorney declined to prosecute. There was grumbling in the minority community and headlines in the local paper, but no accountability for the death of an innocent man.
Ferguson, Mo.? Staten Island, N.Y.? No. Framingham, Mass.
Eurie Stamps Sr., a 68-year-old grandfather of 12, was killed during a midnight SWAT raid on his Framingham home on Jan. 5, 2011. Today, the deaths of black men at the hands of over-aggressive white police is a national issue. Four years ago, the death of Eurie Stamps was barely noticed.
Stamps was not a suspect. The target of the police investigation, Stamps' stepson, had been taken into police custody down the street, before officers went into the house. They went in anyway, in full body armor, with battering rams, flash-bang grenades and assault rifles. Stamps was killed when Officer Paul Duncan's rifle went off. It was an unfortunate accident, Middlesex DA Gerry Leone concluded.
In some ways, Eurie Stamps' death was more outrageous than the cases that have sent thousands to the streets in protest. Stamps wasn't challenging a cop like Michael Brown, or selling untaxed cigarettes like Eric Garner. He was in his bedroom in his pajamas, watching the Celtics game. Protests erupted in the recent cases when grand juries failed to indict the officers involved, but Leone never even put the Stamps case before a grand jury.
There are many reasons the killing of Stamps didn't spur the kind of outrage we've seen over the killing of Brown and Garner. Stamps was killed in the middle of night, in the middle of winter. There were no witnesses and no video. The MetroWest Daily News covered the story extensively, but it barely merited a mention in the Boston papers and on the TV news. Twitter hadn't yet become a tool of activism. Framingham's minority community is smaller than Ferguson's, and it didn't take to the streets. There was no local rabble-rouser to organize a demonstration, and Al Sharpton never came to town.
Framingham's police force is more diverse than Ferguson's, and better at community relations. We'd like to think one reason Framingham didn't erupt is that there aren't the kind of pent-up grievances present in Ferguson. If the Stamps spark didn't start a fire, maybe it's because there was less kindling.
In the aftermath, Framingham made some improvements in police training and community relations. A year later, Framingham's police chief disbanded the SWAT team, citing difficulties in sustaining an adequately trained force.
Four years after Eurie Stamps was killed, Paul Duncan is still on the job. Stamps' family still hasn't had their day in court. Family members have filed a wrongful death suit against the town, but the wheels of justice turn slowly.
Another reason Stamps' story was little noticed outside Framingham is that cases like the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner are the exceptions, not the rule. The government doesn't keep statistics on police-involved homicides, let alone less-lethal encounters, but privately-collected data put the death toll from police shootings higher than 500 a year.
The officers involved almost never pay a price. A CommonWealth Magazine investigation found 73 people killed by police officers in Massachusetts over the last 12 years. In every case, after investigations conducted by fellow police officers and county district attorneys, the officer involved was exonerated.
In most cases, that conclusion was likely correct, but in every case?

We appreciate the dangers police face and their need to defend themselves. But the standard applied in the Stamps case and others - whether the officer in question committed a crime - may be too low. And the way these incidents are handled, with fellow officers and sympathetic prosecutors investigating allegations against police and weighing the evidence in the secrecy of a grand jury proceeding, has led to a loss of credibility, especially in communities that are the target of aggressive policing.
It's time legislators at the state and national level take a hard look at many factors in these police shootings: militarized equipment and tactics, the overuse of SWAT teams in non-emergency situations, the potential benefits of body cameras and the need for independent investigations of alleged police misconduct. Such a review and the reforms that come from it would be a fitting legacy for Eurie Stamps and other innocents caught in the line of fire.

The Death Of Eurie Stamps	December 14, 2014
Rick Holmes	Metrowest Daily News
The unarmed black man was shot by a white cop, killed in police custody while he was lying face-down. At first the police wouldn't reveal the officer's name or discuss the details of the shooting. The district attorney declined to prosecute. There was grumbling in the minority community and headlines in the local paper, but no accountability for the death of an innocent man. Ferguson, Mo.? Staten Island, N.Y.? No. Framingham, Mass. Eurie Stamps Sr., a 68-year-old grandfather of 12, was killed during a midnight SWAT raid on his Framingham home on Jan. 5, 2011. Today, the deaths of black men at the hands of over-aggressive white police is a national issue. Four years ago, the death of Eurie Stamps was barely noticed. Stamps was not a suspect. The target of the police investigation, Stamps' stepson, had been taken into police custody down the street, before officers went into the house. They went in anyway, in full body armor, with battering rams, flash-bang grenades and assault rifles. Stamps was killed when Officer Paul Duncan's rifle went off. It was an unfortunate accident, Middlesex DA Gerry Leone concluded. In some ways, Eurie Stamps' death was more outrageous than the cases that have sent thousands to the streets in protest. Stamps wasn't challenging a cop like Michael Brown, or selling untaxed cigarettes like Eric Garner. He was in his bedroom in his pajamas, watching the Celtics game. Protests erupted in the recent cases when grand juries failed to indict the officers involved, but Leone never even put the Stamps case before a grand jury. There are many reasons the killing of Stamps didn't spur the kind of outrage we've seen over the killing of Brown and Garner. Stamps was killed in the middle of night, in the middle of winter. There were no witnesses and no video. The MetroWest Daily News covered the story extensively, but it barely merited a mention in the Boston papers and on the TV news. Twitter hadn't yet become a tool of activism. Framingham's minority community is smaller than Ferguson's, and it didn't take to the streets. There was no local rabble-rouser to organize a demonstration, and Al Sharpton never came to town. Framingham's police force is more diverse than Ferguson's, and better at community relations. We'd like to think one reason Framingham didn't erupt is that there aren't the kind of pent-up grievances present in Ferguson. If the Stamps spark didn't start a fire, maybe it's because there was less kindling. In the aftermath, Framingham made some improvements in police training and community relations. A year later, Framingham's police chief disbanded the SWAT team, citing difficulties in sustaining an adequately trained force. Four years after Eurie Stamps was killed, Paul Duncan is still on the job. Stamps' family still hasn't had their day in court. Family members have filed a wrongful death suit against the town, but the wheels of justice turn slowly. Another reason Stamps' story was little noticed outside Framingham is that cases like the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner are the exceptions, not the rule. The government doesn't keep statistics on police-involved homicides, let alone less-lethal encounters, but privately-collected data put the death toll from police shootings higher than 500 a year. The officers involved almost never pay a price. A CommonWealth Magazine investigation found 73 people killed by police officers in Massachusetts over the last 12 years. In every case, after investigations conducted by fellow police officers and county district attorneys, the officer involved was exonerated. In most cases, that conclusion was likely correct, but in every case? We appreciate the dangers police face and their need to defend themselves. But the standard applied in the Stamps case and others - whether the officer in question committed a crime - may be too low. And the way these incidents are handled, with fellow officers and sympathetic prosecutors investigating allegations against police and weighing the evidence in the secrecy of a grand jury proceeding, has led to a loss of credibility, especially in communities that are the target of aggressive policing. It's time legislators at the state and national level take a hard look at many factors in these police shootings: militarized equipment and tactics, the overuse of SWAT teams in non-emergency situations, the potential benefits of body cameras and the need for independent investigations of alleged police misconduct. Such a review and the reforms that come from it would be a fitting legacy for Eurie Stamps and other innocents caught in the line of fire.

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