It’s absolutely crazy that it has now been six months of silence from authorities since “Bijan Ghaisar was fatally shot by two U.S. Park Police officers on a Northern Virginia side street.” Why did officers fire “nine times into Ghaisar’s Jeep Grand Cherokee as he sat behind the wheel, apparently unarmed” on November 17, 2017? Why don’t we have any answers, six months later, as to how this could have happened? Why has there been no accountability? Why the stonewalling by authorities, despite the efforts of Rep. Don Beyer, State Sen. Scott Surovell and others? See below for video of yesterday’s #WeAreBijan rally outside of the U.S. Dept. of Justice. And let’s all demand answers – NOW!
As Rep. Don Beyer said: “Justice delayed is justice denied. It’s been six months since an unarmed Bijan Ghaisar was shot to death by Park Policemen who violated their own policy on car pursuits and violated their own policy on the use of deadly force. It’s been nearly six months now since the FBI initiated its investigation on an incident that happened over just a very few minutes, and yet we stand here today, [they are] doing virtually nothing about that investigation…The FBI won’t allow Arlington to release the tape…It’s beyond my imagination and understanding why it has taken so very long [to get answers]…Little by little, little by lot, the FBI is sacrificing its credibility. Justice, simple fairness, the rule of law and democracy all demand transparency in this tragic case; transparency that has been wrongly and sadly denied so far.”
As Sen. Surovell added, “when you watch that video, [the unarmed] Bijan is not driving aggressively…he’s not speeding aggressively…nothing in that video that said anybody should be shot four times in the head…the more I started to focus on it the more I became very upset about it…I’ve now sent two letters to the FBI…the response really wasn’t a response…this is not acceptable…this is happening way too much in this country…[and] in Northern Virginia…It is so important that we get transparency on this…Sunlight is the best disinfectant…That’s what we need…We deserve prompt answers…It doesn’t take six months…it shouldn’t even take a month…to find out why this happened….and I’ll continue to fight until we get those answers.”
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