Late last month, Chicago Police Officer Melvina Bogard was acquitted of felony battery charges in the shooting of an unarmed man at a Chicago train station in 2020. While a handful of local media outlets reported on the story at the time, the case received far less attention than most in which a cop shoots a civilian.
Perhaps this has something to do with Bogard’s race — she is black and the shooting victim, Ariel Roman, is white. Whenever a white cop shoots and injures a black victim in the US, the media explodes with outrage, as journalists seek to prop up the narrative of systemic white supremacy and brutality within the police force. But there is far less appetite for the reverse scenario, even when that white victim isn’t armed, doesn’t appear to be a danger to police and is shot at close range.
The details around the Roman shooting are clear. On Feb. 8, 2020, officer Bogard and her partner, Bernard Butler, attempted to arrest Roman for illegally moving between train cars at the Grand Avenue stop on the Chicago’s Red Line train system.
Chicago Police Officer Melvina Bogard was acquitted in the shooting of Ariel Roman after a struggle (pictured). But unlike cases of white cops shooting black victims, national press coverage was scant.YouTube
In video footage compiled by The Chicago Sun-Times, Roman can be seen persistently resisting arrest. One of the officers screams “stop resisting” more than 10 times. Eventually the officers deploy their Tasers, yet Roman manages to remain on his feet. Bogard then pulls her gun and yells, “Sir, put your f–king hands down!” Butler, meanwhile, yells, “Shoot him!”
In a matter of seconds, Bogard shoots Roman in the stomach at point-blank range. Somehow Roman flees before she fires at him a second time in the back. Eventually, Roman, wounded and bloodied, is apprehended and arrested.
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Blame for the shooting can be placed on both sides. Roman was clearly noncompliant — he defied all of the officers’ commands, forcing events to escalate. On the other hand, firing shots at Roman when he was just a few feet away feels excessive. Although Bogard claimed she shot Roman in self-defense, even her own police chief, David Brown, didn’t buy that argument. He called for her to be fired for violating police protocol, saying deadly force was not necessary on a person who posed no serious threat to her or anyone nearby.