By Gillian Wilcox
Black people in Missouri are disproportionately stopped or harassed by police. Twenty years of collected data shows Black drivers are stopped at a rate 85 percent higher than white drivers. And too many police departments across the state regularly use disproportionate force in dealing with minority individuals.
Missouri offers yet another example. Josh Bills, a Black man living in Kansas City, found himself on the receiving end of just this kind of police misconduct.
In December 2013, walking blocks from his home, Bills was approached by five officers who surrounded him. He greeted the officers calmly. He stood with his hands down to his sides at a 45-degree angle. He did not act aggressively.
The police stopped him because of a call about a “Black man, black clothing.” Then the encounter went south — a scene emblematic of racialized policing that is all too familiar. Despite being cooperative with the officers, Officer Jordan Nelson, without warning, grabbed one of Bills’ arms and violently kicked his legs out from under him, smashing his face into the concrete.
As Bills lay on the ground, injured and motionless, another officer knelt on his back to restrain him while they placed him under arrest. Chillingly, a few minutes after the brutal altercation, 
Nelson re-enacted the takedown for his fellow officers at the scene while Bills was still lying on the pavement waiting for medical attention.
And it was all caught on video.
Bills has been denied justice for the violation of his Fourth Amendment rights. So the ACLU of Missouri sued. As a Black resident of Kansas City, Bills was no stranger to racial profiling and police abuse.
“This isn’t the first time this has happened to me — when a police officer has said, ‘Hey, you look suspicious’ for no reason other than my skin color,” Bills said. “It’s not even the first time I’ve been roughed up. It’s just the first time I’ve been able to draw attention to it. My existence shouldn’t be cause for concern.”
Bills was held in jail for two weeks without bond following the incident. He lost his job.
Bills’ physical injuries are no longer visible, but his emotions remain raw. “I’m not anti-police,” he said. “But I do think that there are some officers who hide behind their badge. And too many other officers do nothing to stop them.”
Bills lost faith in the police and understandably avoids them at all costs. “You just don’t know which ones are trustworthy,” he said. Bills’ fear of law enforcement is representative of the wider breach of trust between law enforcement and people of color nationwide.
Four officers stood by and chose not to intervene the night Bills was brutalized. They each had the opportunity to take a stand and do their jobs by halting the abuse. Or they could have reported their fellow officer after the incident. The breach of duty extends to all the officers involved, not just Nelson.
The state is no stranger to discrimination and abuse of force in policing. Every Missouri law enforcement agency should implement anti-discrimination training, de-escalation training, and stronger and more well defined use-of-force policies, and they must hold officers accountable when they violate those policies and the law. This is the first step to building trust between police and the communities they serve.
The ACLU of Missouri is committed to making community-focused policing that respects the Fourth Amendment a priority. When we asked Bills what he hoped his experience and case would change, he said he wanted the Kansas City Police Department to be held accountable and to not treat anyone else like this again. And his call for accountability should echo across the nation. Police departments need to demonstrate a commitment to fairly protect the communities they serve, not make them targets of police misconduct.
Gillian Wilcox is a Staff Attorney with ACLU of Missouri
Get Tickets To Vanguard’s Immigration Rights Event
“But I do think that there are some officers who hide behind their badge. And too many other officers do nothing to stop them.”
And too many closet Klansmen who don’t care.
““You just don’t know which ones are trustworthy,”
This is a particularly interesting comment to me. I believe that the racist belief many white people who report blacks going about their routine lives as “suspicious” is based on their belief that “you just don’t know which (POC) are trustworthy”. This is the basis for the calls. This is the basis for racial profiling by the police. It is the basis for all stereotyping. Once you choose to define another group as “the other” instead of acknowledging our mutual humanity, you have reduced interactions to “You just don’t know which ones are trustworthy.”
The unique problem with this as it relates to the police is that the answer must be 100%. We cede to the police the power of life and death over us. The answer to the question “which ones are trustworthy” must be “100%”. Will we get it right the first time? Of course not. But once there is awareness that a police officer is not trustworthy, there should be no second chances ( see recent controversy over the officer who shot Tamir Rice), no cover ups, no exceptions.
St Louis Missouri is the city with the highest murder rate in the nation because black people in Missouri disproportionately murder each other.
https://bismarcktribune.com/news/national/the-cities-with-the-highest-murder-rates-in-the-us/collection_5a789407-4d43-5403-ad56-7c47880bda8e.html#31
Seem like the author of this article could have enjoyed some credibility at least acknowledging the difficult job cops have trying to reduce all the death.
Kansas City and St. Louis are as different as LA and San Francisco. Not that you’re point is relevant anyway, but you can’t even get the city right.
LOL. Kansas City is #12 on the list. Note that I said people in Missouri disproportionately murder each other. Not that I expect you to read all the words before having your strong emotional reaction.
You are aware that research shows no relation between police violence and murder rates?
This comment is nonsensical.
The correlation is that there are more violent murders and thus the police are dealing with more violent suspects and the police are also under greater political pressure to stop the violence.
Just ask Rham Emanuel how challenging it is to play the liberal social justice political meme of police violence against blacks while also trying to keep blacks from killing each other.
It is not any excuse against acts of police brutality, only a need to acknowledge that the job of law enforcement in these places is not like it is in Davis.
It would be like persecuting a soldier for brutality in Fallujah.
“The correlation is that there are more violent murders and thus the police are dealing with more violent suspects and the police are also under greater political pressure to stop the violence.”
Except there is no correlation because you are not looking at research and citing statistics, you are making an emotional and political argument.
LOL. No. I am making a rational and common sense argument. Not one based on the fake studies of the hopelessly liberal biased social science field.
More violent crime.
More violent criminals.
More cops on edge and having a more difficult job reducing violent crime.
You don’t need a study to prove that.
You liberals are so full of double-standards on this stuff that gives me a headache. We are supposed to have empathy for the teachers dealing with inner-city students and give more money to them because their jobs are so much more difficult. Then they fail and crank out children that have to become criminals to survive and somehow it is the cop’s fault that they have to deal with these violent and desperate people. Again, the video looks like the police over-reacted, but it is only a video. No sound. No other side of the story. My point was simply that admitting the other side of this challenge would help with credibility of thoughtful balanced consideration. Apparently you don’t welcome that.
“Seem like the author of this article could have enjoyed some credibility at least acknowledging the difficult job cops have trying to reduce all the death.”
What does this thug cop tripping the entirely compliant Mr. Bills and slamming his face into the pavement do to reduce all the death? Not a thing, as you well know. Once again you would assert your hate and bigotry under the guise of “public safety.” Low, but to be expected from you and your ilk.
” At what point through the first 20 seconds of this video was the victim, Josh Bills, exhibiting behavior that could, should or would cause the officers concern?”
00:01, when his complexion became apparent.
Having a “complexion” is not a behavior. So, maybe Jeff saw something I didn’t.
Jeff, did you watch the video? At what point through the first 20 seconds of this video was the victim, Josh Bills, exhibiting behavior that could, should or would cause the officers concern?
There is no sound but given what I know about police protocol in these matters they would have told him to get down on the ground with his hands up. My guess is that he refused. Police are taught to move quickly to subdue a suspect they view as potentially armed and dangerous as the officer has to holster his weapon to get both hands free to make sure the suspect does not quickly reach for a weapon and fire. They have the suspect get down so that he isn’t in a physical position to support reaching for a weapon he has on possession. It it were me I would have been down on the ground with my hands over my head to help the officers feel like I was not a threat to them.
The take down was brutal and I believe uncalled for. However, I understand and have empathy for law enforcement dealing with so many suspects that are armed and dangerous.
“My guess is that he refused.”
And therein lies the truth Jeff. You say that you use evidence, facts, logic and “common sense” ( which is frequently just plain wrong), but when push comes to shove, you rely on “my guess”. “My guess” reasoning is always based on one’s personal biases. We all tend to see the world the way we want to see it. Only some of us will refute all evidence & studies that do not support our own view as ideologically driven when in fact that is the prism of our own views.
“My guess is that he refused. ”
Same old song and dance, Jeff M. My guess is that they could have brought out a Tommy gun and emptied the drum into and you would say the same thing.
” However, I understand and have empathy for law enforcement dealing with so many suspects that are armed and dangerous.
“How many innocent victims do you allow per cop per year? Perhaps you’d explain your personal biases on this issue so we know why you’re blind to police brutality.
What do you know about police protocol? Apparently not much. It would be common in that situation to require the suspect to get down on the ground so that he was not a threat to pull out a gun and shoot a cop.
I have empathy and rational understanding for the situation sans any ideological confirmation bias. You should try that some time and raise your profile as maybe being a good human.
“What do you know about police protocol?”
Quite a bit, both the handbook and unwritten protocols. I worked closely with a financial crimes unit and the ATF for few years. I also have a number of college credits in criminal justice. The kind of street justice we see here has nothing to do with any official protocol. It has only to do with a possibly paranoid, definitely mean cop who belongs in a cell not a uniform.What I also know is that you continue to use derision, denial and deflection with no effort at all to answer the questions your posts raise. You obviously have a preference for cops who subjugate, dominate and abuse black people, because you never fail to rush to their defense. (To be fair you defend the ones who kill white people, albeit with less zeal, but equal obscurity.) Come clean and tell us the real reason.
I didn’t see any reason for the rough takedown in the video. We didn’t have audio. The cop in question could’ve showed more restraint.
That said this might be one bad cop but doesn’t represent a systemic problem. Unfortunately that’s how the left will portray it.
“That said this might be one bad cop but doesn’t represent a systemic problem”
How many “one bad cops” does it take for you to see a systemic problem? We have this case, Tamir Rice, Philando Castillo, Eric Gardner, and about 5 more cases whose story but whose names do not come immediately to mind for me. Everyone of them have been dismissed by some as “one bad cop”. At some point, we must be seeing a broader problem. How many is enough for you?
Would you want a hospital with a high infection rate to use the same approach. Would you want them to say “it’s just one negligent doctor” or would you want a thorough investigation of systemic practices before you checked in?