Title: Another (Much Higher) Count Of Homicides By Police | FiveThirtyEight
Headings: Another (Much Higher) Count Of Homicides By Police
Another (Much Higher) Count Of Homicides By Police
Content: We randomly sampled 146 incidents (10 percent) from the news links posted to Killed By Police. All the posts linked to established outlets, although in some cases a new url for the article had to be found because the news site had restructured its links. Here’s a breakdown of these incidents: 124 incidents (85 percent) were clear-cut police shootings in which the victims were fatally shot by officers acting in the line of duty. “ Line of duty” doesn’t necessarily mean “justifiable,” but it’s an important distinction because it excludes some incidents, such as one in which an off-duty officer shot and killed a friend during a bar fight and was subsequently charged with criminal homicide. This count does include a few cases of off-duty officers using deadly force while acting in a law-enforcement capacity. 12 incidents (8 percent) were other cases of arrest-related deaths in which the victims died after being Tasered or otherwise restrained by law enforcement officers. These incidents are more complicated than shootings; the exact cause of death is harder to pin down. In some cases, a victim’s preexisting health issues are blamed.