– Photo courtesy of WMU-Cooley
WMU-Cooley Law School’s Auburn Hills campus hosted “Death by Police: Justifiable Homicide or Excessive Use of Force” panel discussion on Monday, Jan. 18. Pictured are (left to right) Eric Hawkins, chief of police, city of Southfield; WMU-Cooley Prof. Lewis Langham; Samuel Q. Elira, Sr., president, WMU-Cooley Auburn Hills Student Bar Association; Dr. Amanda Alexander, University of Michigan Law School Child Advocacy Law Clinic; Yusef Shakur, community organizer; Kwasi Akwamu, community activist; and Harold Gurewitz, criminal defense attorney with Gurewitz & Raben.
On Monday, Jan. 18, WMU-Cooley Law School’s Auburn Hills campus’ students hosted a panel discussion, “Death by Police: Justifiable Homicide or Excessive Use of Force.” The discussion was part of WMU-Cooley’s Equal Access to Justice Day. It focused on law enforcement’s use of deadly force and where it is excessive and where it is justified. The program was moderated by Professor Lewis Langham, former deputy legal counsel and criminal justice policy adviser for former Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm.
Panelists included Chief Eric Hawkins, Southfield Michigan police department; Dr. Amanda Alexander, member of the ACLU Lawyers Committee and University of Michigan law professor who focuses on racial justice movements; Yusef Shakur, social activist; Harold Gurewitz, criminal defense attorney at Gurewitz & Raben, PLC; and Kwasi Akwamu, community activist.
When reviewing recent national cases’ dash cam and bystander videos where lethal force was used, Hawkins said, “What I see is a lack of training in the officers ... and agencies with a lack of discipline. I refuse to abandon hope that this system can work.”
Kwasi Akwamu disagreed with Hawkins, “I long ago abandoned hope ... a lot of legalese is not going to change anything when you are dealing with built-in biases.”
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