FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
CJ Frogozo, cj@fitzgibbonmedia.com, 310.570.2622
Tim Rusch, tim@fitzgibbonmedia.com, 917.399.0236
**VIEW PETITION: http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/ReleaseTheTapes/**
Dayton, OH — On August 5, 2014, 22-year-old John Crawford III was fatally shot by police in a Walmart in Beaver Creek, Ohio while leaning on a pellet gun from the store’s shelves. Since his murder, Walmart has refused requests from family attorneys to publicly release security tape footage from the more than 200 cameras in the store. In response, ColorOfChange.org, the nation’s largest online civil rights organization, launched a petition demanding Walmart publicly release the surveillance videos to ensure justice for John Crawford, and help customers and workers feel safe in Walmart stores.
Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of ColorOfChange.org, said, “Walmart thinks by hiding these tapes they can avoid a conversation about their responsibility for the safety of customers and workers in their stores: they’re wrong. Walmart owes John Crawford’s family, Walmart workers and future shoppers answers for why police stormed one of their stores and murdered one of their customers.”
Robinson continued, “The 911 caller is now changing his story, saying that Crawford never aimed the gun at anyone in the store. Releasing the tapes publicly will help John Crawford’s family, the community, and Walmart workers restore their faith in a legal process that too often refuses to deliver justice when Black people are hurt or killed. Ironically and tragically, Ohio is an open carry state; even if the pellet gun John Crawford picked up was a real gun, he would have committed no crime. Crawford’s death exemplifies how open carry laws provide no protection for Black people in a culture that doesn’t value our dignity or humanity.”
“ColorOfChange supports the determined work of advocates on the ground, like the Ohio Student Association, who continue to demand justice for John Crawford. We demand full accountability of the police officers responsible. “
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With more than 900,000 members,ColorOfChange.org is the nation’s largest online civil rights organization.