Title: 776 People Killed By Police So Far in 2015, 161 Of Them Unarmed
Headings: 776 People Killed By Police So Far in 2015, 161 Of Them Unarmed
776 People Killed By Police So Far in 2015, 161 Of Them Unarmed
September 01st, 2015

Content: Shooting was the most common cause of police-related death, at 680. Of the 161 unarmed individuals, 71 were shot by police. The second most common cause of death found in the study were Tasers, which led to the deaths of 39 people, followed by being struck by police vehicles (26). Twenty-eight people died in police custody, according to The Guardian, but this figure does not include victims like Sandra Bland, who died in a Texas jail under conditions many describe as suspicious, although suicide was listed as her official cause of death. Of the 582 people who were armed at the time of their death, 374 were carrying firearms and 107 were armed with knives. Of course, the numbers also cannot account for whether those killed were actively threatening police with their weapons versus those who were not, like Paul Castaway, the Native American man killed July 12 in Denver while holding a knife to his own neck. Although police advocates claim the frequent use of force is necessary to protect officers from a highly dangerous job, the statistics don’t seem to back this up. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund reported that 25 officers were killed by gunfire so far in 2015, with the Officer Down Memorial Page noting that two of those deaths came from accidental discharge of their firearms. Further, Bureau of Labor Statistics released last year show that being a police officer is not even among the country’s 10 most dangerous professions. Indeed, those statistics show that loggers, roofers, pilots and farmers are all more likely to be killed on the job than police.