A law enforcement official stands in front of a car, ordering the driver to exit the vehicle. As the vehicle moves, the officer opens fire through the windshield and driver’s side window, killing the driver.
These were the circumstances of both the shooting by an immigration enforcement officer in Minneapolis Wednesday and a 2018 killing in the Bay Area that was the subject of a Chronicle investigation. And as politicians debate the Minneapolis shooting and citizens across the country protest ICE and demand justice, the 2018 Danville killing serves as a rare example of a successful prosecution in a use-of-force case, and a sign of momentum for police accountability.
Looking at Minneapolis, some experts now wonder if all that progress has unraveled.
“In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, how far have we really come?” asked Tom Nolan, a use-of-force expert and former Boston police lieutenant, referring to a seismic moment of police brutality that also occurred in Minneapolis. “An argument could be made that we’re in a worse position now than we were pre-George Floyd.”…