Ryan Twyman, Dead at 24

Two policemen approaching a parked car unloading 34 rounds of ammo inside a vehicle with an unarmed African American. Hearing stories like this one I am about to tell you is just one out of my four examples that police brutality is an ongoing issue that we need to address and change. Stop saying we will fix it and it won’t happen and trying to pay off the victims’ families with money.

There was an African American male named Ryan Twyman. He was only 24 years old with three children and a wife waiting for him at home. He never thought that June 6th, 2019 was going to be the last time he would see his family. Ryan was parked in a car in Los Angeles when two officers started to approach him with their guns drawn and opening the back door to his Kia while he was in the passenger seat. As in panic he put his car in reverse and the cops started unloading their magazines and after when the car was coming to a stop one of the officers went into the back of the police car and grabbed his rifle. He continued to shoot at the stopped Kia. These actions were very unnecessary and they obviously could have been handled differently with a better approach. In the article, “Los Angeles officers shot at Ryan Twyman 34 times” Sam Levin told us a few quoted words that his mother had to say. One of the first Tommy Twyman said “nobody deserves to be treated like that, He was a mommas boy.” By his personality that his mother described it is hard to judge that he was ever a bad guy. Ryan had a vision of his life and wanted to become a veterinarian because he loved dogs so much. Ryan’s mother was hurt by the way the officers just took his life and “took something that I’m not going to get back. You robbed me.” Quoted from Tommy Twyman. She also stated that “I never knew how much a black man could get pulled over until my son became a teenager. It never stopped.” Ryan’s mother was devastated and she couldn’t go back in time and spend that last day with him. These actions fr these officers seemed as if they have come for a reason to “assassinate and kill Ryan” said Chiquita who was Ryan’s sister. After the shooing, they finally searched the car and there was no firearm or anything that would make him a threat. Yeah, the officers just killed an innocent African American male that was unarmed with daylight still outside. As stated in, “Los Angeles officers shot at Ryan Twyman 34 times,” “The LASD guidelines dictate that deputies should not fire at moving cars unless someone in the vehicle is threatening deadly force with something other than the vehicle.” While obviously, the cops knew about this they still didn’t find a concrete threat besides the car and still continued with their actions.

While the LA county was trying to cover up their mistakes stated in, “Ryan Twymans family speaks after he is killed by LA sheriff’s deputies they approved”, a 3.9 million dollar settlement to Twyman’s parents and children. So money can pay off death now? Would they want money if their loved ones got killed by the police? Just brush it off like it is nothing huh. Does Not work like that. The supervisors even stated that “The force was excessive, unnecessary and unlawful.” while it was an ongoing case their lawyer Brian Dunn which was a pretty good lawyer had very direct questions, “Why did they approach the vehicle with guns drawn, Dunn asked, rather than announce their presence through the squad cars PA system? Why Dunn said, did they keep firing on the car after it had come to a complete stop on the other side of the parking lot? The LA Sheriff’s Department has a policy of refraining from firing on moving vehicles except in rare instances, Ryan Twymans family speaks after he is killed by LA sheriff’s Deputies.” All of these questions are worth being asked in court. There is plenty of other ways this could have gone but they chose one way before arriving at the scene. Dunn also stated that “By the time this deputy is no longer in the path of the vehicle there is no justification whatsoever to continue using deadly force. That is a valid statement and indication that they could have stopped but no they wanted to keep shooting till they felt like they are safe and did their duty.

This is just one of the examples I am going to take you through on this journey. There are thousands of examples that are still going on to this day. It is scary and I often ask myself what my future children would have to go through.