Magdiel Sanchez is a Latino man who was shot and killed by police in Oklahoma City Tuesday the 19th of September. Police reports say that he was first tased, then shot by another officer. He was being detained in the investigation of a hit and run. One very important detail, Magdiel Sanchez is a deaf man. He cannot hear. Neighbors of Magdiel said that there were shouting at police that he cannot hear, but the police chose to ignore them and escalate the situation to a point where it led to the murder of Magdiel Sanchez.
Capt. Bo Mathews held a press conference discussing the issue following the day of the shooting, September 20th. In his statement, he reports that Lieutenant Leslie of Oklahoma City Police went to the address that a witness of a hit and run incident claimed the vehicle involved was located at. Magdiel Sanchez was reportedly sitting on the porch of that property. Lieutenant Leslie reported that he had a long metal pole with a leather loop at the end.
Police are labeling this item a weapon. This item is, in fact, a walking cane.
Sergeant Barnes of Oklahoma City Police was requested to the scene. After arriving at the scene, Magdiel Sanchez began to approach the two officers. The two officers were yelling instructions to put the “weapon” down. During all of this, neighbors were yelling at the officers that Magdiel was deaf. Screaming, “He can’t hear” at the two officers. Lieutenant Leslie tased Magdiel from a range, and Sergeant Barnes fired their weapon killing Magdiel Sanchez.
The escalating, and unprofessionalism of these two officers describes policing towards people of color for decades. The assumption of violent intention, the instant stance of opposition the police take when encountering a person of color, and the ideology of executing people of color as “stopping crime”.
I personally have a huge issue with the excuse of not being able to hear all the neighbors shouting at the two officers. This was not a crime scene until the officers shot Magdiel Sanchez, therefore the squad cars did not have sirens on. This incident was late at night, so there would not be much sound inhibiting the ability of the officers to hear the neighbors. Think of passing cars, music, construction, all things that are prevalent during the day that would not be making it hard to hear at night.
Magdiel Hernandez was sitting on the porch of his home, inside of a residential neighborhood. There wouldn’t be any commotion to distract the officers, for example, if this happened in a downtown setting. Personally, I have always had experiences of police being very passive, condescending, or otherwise uncaring of what you have to say. Based off of personal experience, the police most likely could hear the neighbors perfectly clearly but chose to ignore them.
Officer Barnes has been placed on paid administrative leave. This follows a familiar cycle of police murdering a man of color and going home comfortably while still being paid for it. The Oklahoma Police are looking into this case as a crime. They are investigating the criminality of an officer they placed on administrative leave. If you couldn’t pick up on the gut-wrenching irony of this, let me spell it out for you. The likeliness of a police department criminalizing one of their own officers hints that they will not be brought to justice. They have already decided to put him on paid leave, so that already tells you their opinions on the case. The amount of bias in this is so extreme, The Oklahoma Police Department literally have every motive to protect the sanctity of Officer Barnes. Neither of the police had body cameras on, so they will likely not be brought to justice.
One thing has eerily stuck out to me while looking into this case. The motif-like repetitiveness of “hearing”. Police expect us to hear them in their shouts and commands, but refuse to listen to the people they try so hard to dictate. #Nonosescuchas could be an effective way to gain attention to this case. No nos escuchas translates to “you do not hear us”. Symbolic of relations between police and communities of color. Mexican-Americans have always had issues with police, it is time that is brought to attention.
