Zach Klein

Here in Columbus law does not mean justice and police work does not mean investigation. That has been made clear again in the case of Masonique Saunders on today May 9th. 17 year old Saunders has been held virtually incognito by Franklin County for the five months and a day since she was belatedly arrested for the murder of her 16-year old boyfriend Julius Tate. She witnessed him being executed on the street by SWAT during a robbery sting operation. Another youth had been shot two days before.

When a teenager dies in a hail of police bullets family and community are traumatized. When that happens in Columbus the teenager is invariably not actually a danger to the police who execute them. After the murder, the City of Columbus is not content to merely smear the victim and hide behind attorneys, the police union, and their badges. There is a developing escalation, where any witnesses and t to the murder and their families are prosecuted. This is what is happening in the wake of the police killings of both Julius Tate Jr.

Led by the People's Justice Partnership and relatives of Henry Green and Tyre King nearly 200 people took over City Council Chambers during their weekly meeting to demand justice. City Authorities had prepared new roadblocks to public participation for the event including requiring photo identification to enter the building and extra police on hand. New rules were in place limiting the total number of people permitted to attend the meeting to fewer than the total number of seats in Council Chambers.