White Death By Traffic Stop—Three More Black Motorists, SIX More Dead White Cops
07/16/2016
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As before, these area cases from MurderPedia of cops who got careless with black motorists.

Motorist: Billy Leon Kearse

Victim: Sergeant Danny Parrish 

Date of Traffic Stop: January 18, 1991

Description of Traffic Stop:

Officer Danny Parrish observed Billy Kearse driving the wrong way on a one-way street. Parrish radioed in the vehicle license plate number and proceeded to stop Kearse.

Kearse did not have his driver’s license and gave Parrish several alias names that did not match the driver’s license history. Kearse was then ordered to exit the vehicle and place his hands on top of the vehicle.

When Parrish attempted to handcuff Kearse, a struggle ensued. Kearse grabbed Parrish’s weapon and fired 14 shots. Thirteen of the shots struck Parrish, nine in his body and four in his bullet-proof vest

One of Kearse’s companions testified during the trial that Kearse shot Officer Parrish “because his probation was suspended and the police was [sic] looking for him already.”

Disposition: Sentenced to death November 8, 1991—apparently still on death row, another miscarriage of justice.

Motorist: Nelson Earl Mitchell

Victim: Seminole County Deputy Sheriff Robert Cunningham Jr

Date of Traffic Stop: August 27, 1986

Description of Traffic Stop:

Nelson Earl Mitchell, 34, was sentenced to death in January 1990 in Early County for killing Iron City Police Chief Robert Cunningham, 51, during a routine traffic stop.

Mr. Mitchell, who had prior convictions for larceny and theft, testified that the white police chief used racial slurs and the gun went off during a struggle.

 

Disposition: Still on Death Row after all these years.

Motorist: Lovelle Mixon

Victims: Motorcycle Sergeant Mark Dunakin, 40; Motorcycle Officer John Hege, 41; SWAT Sergeant Ervin Romans, 43; and SWAT Sergeant Daniel Sakai, 35 (all white)

Date of Traffic Stop: March 21, 2009

Description of Traffic Stop:

The assailant was identified as Oakland resident Lovelle Mixon, age 26, who worked sporadically as a plumber and custodian. Mixon wielded two different weapons—a 9mm semiautomatic handgun and an SKS rifle—during his deadly assaults on the Oakland police officers.

Mixon had an extensive criminal history. Beginning at age 13, he was arrested multiple times for battery, and by age 20 was serving a Corcoran state prison sentence following a felony conviction for assault with a deadly weapon and armed robbery in San Francisco.

After he was paroled, Mixon went in and out of prison. When the shootings happened, he was living in East Oakland at his grandmother's house and was wanted on a no-bail arrest warrant for violating his current parole conditions.

On March 20, 2009, the day before the shootings, the Oakland Police Department learned that Mixon was linked by DNA to the February 5, 2009 rape of a 12-year-old girl who was dragged off the street at gunpoint in the East Oakland neighborhood where Mixon's sister lived.

On May 4, 2009 a state laboratory confirmed not just this link, but also confirmed that Mixon robbed and raped two young women about seven hours before the shootings. Investigators said that Mixon may have committed several other rapes during recent months, although no convictions or indictments had been secured before his death. If Mixon had been arrested for his parole violation, he would have faced at most six months in prison; if convicted of rape, he faced a life sentence.

Mixon had also been the primary suspect in a previous murder case; however, due to lack of evidence he had been charged only with lesser violations: possession of drug paraphernalia, forgery, identity theft, attempted grand theft, and receiving stolen property.

The day of the shooting

Double rape

On May 4, 2009, it was confirmed by a state laboratory that Mixon's DNA proved him responsible for a double rape that took place on the morning of March 21, hours before the shootings. At approximately 5:40 AM, seven hours before the first part of Mixon's assault on the officers, two young women in their 20s were setting up a food court at High Street and International Boulevard. Mixon pulled a handgun (believed to be the one he used hours later in the shootings), marched them four blocks at gunpoint, raped them, and then fled the scene.

Traffic stop on MacArthur Boulevard

At 1:08 PM PDT, approximately seven hours after the rapes, Mixon's burgundy 1995 Buick sedan was pulled over by two motorcycle officers, Officer John Hege and Sergeant Mark Dunakin, for a traffic violation, in the 7400 block of MacArthur Boulevard in East Oakland, one block away from Eastmont Town Center and an Oakland Police Department substation. After collecting Mixon's driver's license, Sergeant Dunakin became suspicious that the license was fake and signaled to his partner, Officer Hege, to arrest Mixon.

Witnesses say Mixon accessed a semi-automatic pistol and exited the vehicle, opening fire without warning. After both officers collapsed to the ground, he approached them and fired execution-style directly into their heads, then briefly remained standing over the bodies before fleeing on foot. Those who heard the gunshots reported Mixon as having fired six shots. Neither officer was able to return fire.

 Disposition: Shot dead by the police in a gun battle in which Officers Sakai and Romans were killed. Otherwise, he’d probably outlive you and me while he appealed.

 

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