As ballots for the upcoming November elections are being delivered across the state, many families who have ever lost a loved one, including ours, is anxiously waiting to tear open the envelope to fill in the bubble for Initiative 940, the initiative on the ballot to save lives by providing enhanced violence de-escalation, mental health crisis, first aid and bias training for all law enforcement officers, as well as create an independent investigation process.
The journey to get this initiative into the hands of the public has been an endearing and long delayed one which started well before my family unfortunately experienced a tragic death in our family.
I can vividly recall the day we lost our dear Tommy Le, and a year and a half has painfully gone by where we never stop thinking about him or can accept the fact that he’s gone. We replay the images and storyline over and over in our minds. Tommy would never have run from officers unless he was terrified of their drawn guns. Instead of calming strength from officers, he became yet another concerning statistic. A victim of the unnecessary use of deadly force. Reprehensibly, Tommy was killed by multiple gun shots through his back by a King County Sheriff’s deputy. He carried no weapon. A pen was eventually alleged as the weapon. Our family became broken.
Regardless of how many times we replay and reimagine the scene and storyline, it unfortunately has already been written for us. A narrative that has caused many in the greater community to question the trust between the King County Sheriff’s Department and the Vietnamese community in Western Washington.
An important aspect of Initiative 940 is the new requirement for fair and independent investigations when a tragedy does occur. Upon release of the internal investigation and conclusion of justified shooting in our case, 12 community organizations in unison signed a letter to the King County Sheriff demanding that deadly force instances be investigated by a thoroughly independent body. That’s just commonsense, and Initiative 940 would ensure it happens across the state.
But our primary reason for supporting Initiative 940 is to try and prevent other families from experiencing what we’ve had to experience. Ours is just one of many stories of families who lost loved ones last year. But it’s our fervent hope that we can save another family from this feeling..
We replay in our mind an alternative outcome and storyline. One where Tommy Le would still be with us, celebrating his 22nd birthday the week after Election Day.
He’s not here – but we still are, and we all have a voice. We need to use it in unison to Initiative 940 to improve training and save lives. We need to use it before such a tragedy happens again.
Please, join my family in voting ‘Yes’ on Initiative 940 by November 6.
Giải thích về các Dự Luật Tiên Khởi YES 1631
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