I graduated with Abuka from South High, although I did not hang out with
him or know him either during high school or afterwards. That's the
extent that I knew him personally. It's a shame that I never got to
know him better but our paths never crossed during his life.
I always think that it's a tragedy when someone's life is seemingly cut
short. It sounds as though Abuka had the huge challenge of dealing
with mental illness and on the day of his death it got the better of
him. Abuka was a victim of his mental illness and a victim of a society
that no longer helps mentally ill people until they become a "threat to
themselves or others". And that is exactly what happened to Abuka the
day of his death.
Someone once told me that there are many realities out there and that
they are all valid. One is not more so than another though. Tim posed
one in his last post and I will pose another here for consideration.
I spoke to two of the officers that were involved in the shooting (no
one seemed to ask them about how they felt, what they thought and how
this happened) and found out that Abuka had been off of his medication
for some period of time. This seemed to lead to some rather erratic
behaviors, one of which was his driving his vehicle around very
recklessly. Abuka's family had tried to keep the keys from him but were
unsuccessful when he became angry with them for trying to hide his keys
from him. Abuka, by the way, was a large man. This came to a head when
he was spotted by an Augsburg College Security Officer who spotted him
driving on the sidewalk, ramming parked cars and going through stop
signs endangering pedestrians.
This security officer followed him while he called 911 and reported what
he had witnessed. Along the way from Augsburg to South Minneapolis Abuka
nearly hit a number of pedestrians and finally did hit one, an elderly
woman. Fortunately she was not seriously injured, as far as I know.
This woman reported that she saw Abuka look at her before he hit her and
shake his finger (in the form of a gun? she suggested) at her as if to
say "look out or I'll get you" (these are my words).
The officers involved kept on hearing over the radio various calls about
a reckless driver first in one area and then somewhere a few blocks
over. They finally spotted Abuka's vehicle in the alley where they were
able to confront him. He appeared to be in his own world and was just
sitting in his vehicle with the engine running. The officers confronted
him and asked that he turn off the engine. He seemed to not hear them,
or want to hear them, so one of the officers approached the car to
attempt to turn off the vehicle and take the keys. It was at this point
that Abuka revved the engine and tried to put the vehicle in gear. When
he did, he raced forward and appeared to be trying to hit one of the
officers, and nearly did.
It is at this point that we all need to ask ourselves what we might do
in a similar position: If you had been called to a report of a man who
had already hit at least one person and seemed to have no qualms about
doing it again, and if you felt that your life was being threatened,
what would you do? These officers reacted as most of us would, to
protect themselves and others who might be hurt by this person.
I believe that when your adrenaline is going that time slows down, but
things happen very quickly. This is exactly what happened in this case.
The officers, each acting individually, took whatever measures they
could to stop this person so that he could not hurt, maim or kill anyone
else. The 30+ bullets may seem like over kill, but when you stop to think
that each of the officers where doing what they thought they could to
stop Abuka, you can see how that might happen. I am not saying it was
right or wrong, but when I tried to put myself into their position, I
could see how things happened.
Our officers are not a bunch of animals or hooligans who go around
looking for people to brutalize. Yes there have been incidents where
excessive force has been used and yes we need to address those issues
and take care so that it doesn't happen again. But to sensationalize
what happened without really knowing the larger picture is unfair to
Abuka, his family, the police and the community. It is always so much
easier to make a smart remark or lay blame on an easy scape goat. It's
a lot harder to address our own fears (racial/social/economic disparity)
and short comings (poor social services/lack of deeper insight/lack of
interest in empathizing with those who are different than ourselves).
Abuka's death, in my humble opinion, was not caused by brutalizing,
trigger happy, Minneapolis cops. It was rather a sad result of what
happens when a mentally ill person has no where to turn, when his family
unable to help him and when his community turns its back on him.
The Minneapolis Police did what they needed to do, given the unfortunate
circumstances, and so would the rest of us no matter how holy we feel.
It's always a lot harder when the shoe is on the other foot. Maybe we
should all try walking in each other's shoes for a bit and see what the
others are going through before we make simplistic, short sighted,
poorly thought out, arrogant and inflammatory comments. And I'll be the
first to step up and take my responsibility in being someone who has
made this very mistake more than a few times in my life. I'm still
learning and I think the rest of us probably are too.
I sincerely hope that Abuka's tragic death will be a wake up call for
the rest of us. Don't let his death be in vain. We should all be
working towards the same goal. Let's stand together, the police, the
city and the community, and make Minneapolis what it can be: A better
place for all of us.
Respectfully,
Matthew Dufresne
Central
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