On Friday, November 13th, Brevard County Deputy Santiago-Miranda fatally shot 16-year-old A.J. Crooms and 18-year-old Sincere Pierce, two Black teens who were terrified as Brevard Sheriff's deputies approached their car with guns drawn.
Police say they suspected the boys were driving a stolen car and had violated traffic laws. Since then, both of these claims have been found incorrect: AJ and Sincere were NOT driving a stolen car and followed all of the rules of the road.
Deputies tailed and suddenly confronted the Black teens. In fear for their innocent lives, they tried to slowly drive around the deputies. Deputy Santiago-Miranda says his life was in danger to try and justify his deadly force, but as video footage clearly shows, A.J. and Sincere were far from him and did not pose a threat. Santiago-Miranda discharged 10 bullets into the car, tragically taking the lives of these two innocent Black teens.
Now, we demand JUSTICE!
It’s clear that from the path of the bullets and the video footage that Deputy Santiago-Miranda was not reasonably in fear for his life. With clear disregard for humanity, he took swift action to end their lives.
We now call on Brevard Sheriff Ivey to take action in this case, holding Deputy Santiago-Miranda accountable for his reckless actions and implementing a review of policing practices to address his department’s history of mistreatment and injustice of Black residents.
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