Black Lives Matter is pushing out a video on Social Media slamming D.C. police, alleging the department is racist and violent.
The video starts with a statement WUSA9 can verify: twenty-nine people have been killed in police involved shootings between 2009 and 2015. No MPD officer has ever been charged.
In fact, the U.S. Attorney did not press charges against Officer Brain Trainer who just last September shot and killed Terrence Sterling – an unarmed black man who investigators say was drunk, on a motorcycle, and speeding.
Officer Trainer is on paid leave pending an internal investigation. Mayor Muriel Bowser has called for his resignation.
The video cites a case this summer when a 7D police officer was spotted wearing a shirt activists say included a white supremacist symbol. DC Police Chief Peter Newsham disciplined the officer and publicly denounced his offensive t-shirt.
A mayoral spokesperson said the DC police department does not have the same widespread, racially-charged problems facing other cities around the country.
Mayor Muriel Bowser at an event Tuesday night said the following:
“We were one of the first cities in America to outfit our police officers with body worn cameras. We have one of the most robust and transparent body worn camera policies, we have an independent police complaints board….so anyone with questions about our department can avail themselves to many different avenues to get their questions answered about the department."
