A SWAT team arrived at Tarika Wilson’s home in Lima on January 4, 2008 to arrest her boyfriend, Anthony Terry, a suspected drug dealer. Minutes later, the police opened fire and killed Wilson, 26.
Wilson was unarmed and was holding her 14-month-old son, Sincere, when Sgt. Joseph Chavalia, shot her dead before hitting Sincere in the shoulder and hand. One of the infant’s fingers had to be amputated. But the all-white jury found Chavalia not guilty of misdemeanour charges of negligent homicide and negligent assault.
“This thing just stinks to high heaven, and the police know it. We’re not asking for answers anymore. We’re demanding them,” Jason Upthegrove, president of the Lima chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, reacted post the verdict.
“There is an evil in this town. The police harass me. They harass my family. But they know that if something happens to me, people will burn down this town,” said C. M. Manley, 68, pastor of New Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church.
Despite the public outcry that followed Wilson’s murder, her family is waiting for justice and change to come in the Lima Police Department.
Ivory Austin, Wilson’s father, said in 2013, “I feel like she did die in vain. For me, the hurt will never go away. I will always feel that I lost a child”.
Darla Jennings, Wilson’s mother, said on her daughter’s fifth death anniversary, “Start standing up. Start standing up against the crooked police. Out of every bushel, there is a bad apple. Not saying a whole lot of the police department is wrong, but in this situation he was”.
“Police can just pull you over for anything now. I’ve had a couple family members that have been pulled over for no reason. Just because the police thought they were somebody else and they weren’t. They should spend their money getting the real thieves instead of just pulling people over for no reason. It just doesn’t make any sense,” she added.
According to a New York Times report, black people in Lima, from the poorest citizens to religious and business leaders, complain that rogue police officers regularly stop them without cause, point guns in their faces, curse them and physically abuse them. The shooting of Tarika Wilson only affirmed a long-running pattern of a few white police officers treating African-Americans as people to be feared.
Even after seven years, the police have provided no answers and no justice for this crime. Join the community activists who are calling for this case to be re-examined. Help them bring the case into national spotlight on police brutality and extrajudicial killings. The police must stop treating minorities shabbily in a city where one in four residents is black.
#TarikaWilson was 26 and unarmed when she was killed by police in SWAT raid. Her children were left without their mother. #BlackLivesMatter
— Chris Edwards (@HeyChrisEdwards) March 1, 2015
Call for justice for Tarika Wilson. http://t.co/Ky1PGVqzEv
— Angelis Dania (@NeotipPro) February 28, 2015
Police Shooting of Mother and Infant Exposes a City’s Racial Tension: http://t.co/H6kQdZt2Iu #TarikaWilson #BlackLivesMatter
— Fred Moore Jr. (@PastorFM) March 1, 2015
@Jacob_Russell I think about Tarika Wilson’s killing by police quite often– glad it’s finally getting the attention it deserves.
— Khadijah White (@khadastrophic) March 1, 2015
Every story is tragic but #TarikaWilson story is what opened my eyes to the system 5 years ago. At 20. #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/nT56uxmsHm
— Why So Serious? (@The4th_Duck) February 21, 2015
This is a very sad situation. They not only killed an innocent mother but actually shot a baby and got away with it?!! OMG. What will it take for people to open their eyes. No doubt they appeared to be seeking the victim’s ex boyfriend or even children’s father but still this doesn’t justify them mistakenly killing her and wounding and emotionally destroying her children. What person with a heart cannot see something is terribly wrong with this? Yes, criminals come in all colors and their indeed are ones of color who instigate a situation and it doesn’t help when family members uphold their crooked or criminal loved ones in their wrong doing. BUT, the police should be held to higher standards; they get paid to serve and protect and for so long some were abusing their power, especially those who held racist views.
Chavalia also killed a mentally I’ll man at the homeless shelter years before. It didn’t get the attention it deserved. The man was unarmed in his own room. I think its high time Chavalia got some of his own medicine!
Everyone should have a dash camera (on a swivel) running all the time -w audio. That way, when the Nazi police force shows it’s colors – simply post the video to YouTube. You can get dash cams on eBay for under $20. Yes. under $20.
No wonder people don’t like the police. I know 5 kids will never like the police.
I’m tired of police brutality and racism.
What a stellar life that baby was going to have with a mum who dated a ‘suspected’ drug dealer…christ what a fucked up joint we have made.