Knowledge About Fire Opal
1. Second stop of fire opal
A short time later, a different police officer, who was Hispanic, stopped the car about a half mile away. According to police, when the officer approached the car, it reversed towards the officer, and the officer opened fire into the car with his semiautomatic pistol.
In her October 27 statement, Williams disputed the police's account, telling the press, "There was a crash, and I lost control. The officer was shooting at us. The car ended up slamming into a building."
According to Williams, she told the officer she was unarmed, but the officer "kept shooting" and told her to get out of the car. Shot and bleeding, she exited the car. According to Williams, the police covered Stinnette with a blanket while he was still breathing.
According to NBC News, dashboard camera footage from the officer's vehicle released on October 28 shows Williams's car, with an officer in pursuit, turning in front of the second officer's car, before stopping on a grass embankment about twenty seconds later.
According to CNN, Williams passed another police car, failed to stop at a stop sign, drove onto the opposite shoulder, and hit a telephone pole guy wire.
The second officer pulled up next to Williams's car. It is unclear whether the officer exited his vehicle before yelling "get out of the fucking", at which point Williams's car begins to reverse. The car cannot be seen in the dash camera footage at this point, but the audio can be heard of an engine roaring and six or seven gunshots, followed by tires squealing and a crash.
Two surveillance videos released on October 28 show Williams's car reversing and crashing into a building, but do not show the officer in the frame. The officer's body camera was not activated at the time of the shooting, and no video released on October 28 shows the shots being fired.
Both Stinnette and Williams were taken to the local hospital. Stinnette died shortly thereafter. Williams survived wounds to her stomach and hand. Police said no weapons were found in the car.
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2. Protests and rioting of fire opal
PhiladelphiaProtests and demonstrations against police brutality and institutional racism in response to Wallace's killing took place across Philadelphia throughout late October. Peaceful demonstrations took place, while others escalated into clashes between police and protesters. As of October 31, there had been a total of 225 arrests, 60 injured police officers, 617 incidents of looting, 18 damaged vehicles, and 24 ATM explosions, according to Philadelphia officials.
October 26On the night of October 26 into the morning of October 27, protesters marched through West Philadelphia, and video posted on social media appeared to show the police clashing with demonstrators. Those marching shared that the march was peaceful until protesters came upon a group of police officers near the Philadelphia Police 18th District. The violence and unrest then spread to other parts of West Philadelphia and other adjacent city neighborhoods. Police arrested at least 91 people overnight, charging most with looting.
According to the Philadelphia Police Department, thirty police officers were injured, in most cases by bricks and rocks that were thrown by protesters. Five police vehicles and one fire department vehicle were vandalized. A 56-year-old female police officer received a broken leg after being hit by a pickup truck.
October 27On October 27, the state and city authorities requested help from the Pennsylvania National Guard, which then mobilized several hundred soldiers. According to police reports, businesses began getting looted right before 9 pm in North Philadelphia, with allegedly 1,000 people looting businesses in Port Richmond. Residents from several districts of Philadelphia were instructed by police to stay indoors to avoid "widespread demonstrations that have turned violent with looting".
The Party for Socialism and Liberation held a march from Malcolm X Park in West Philadelphia through the University of Pennsylvania campus to Clark Park, which was attended by around 1,000 people. Protestors at the march called for community control of the police, the defunding of the Philadelphia Police Department, and the arrest of the officers involved. The march was endorsed by six justice organizations, including the Penn Community for Justice and the city's Black Lives Matter chapter.
Violence broke out between police and protesters near a police precinct, with some in the crowd throwing rocks, light bulbs, and bricks at the police, leaving one officer injured. Police officers armed with riot gear lined the streets, and broke up large groups to arrest those accused of throwing projectiles, by hitting them with batons and tackling them. At least 23 officers were injured, nine police vehicles were damaged, and 81 arrests were made on charges of trespassing, assault on police, and disorderly conduct.
Video footage from the protests also showed a slow-moving SUV being surrounded by police. Officers with batons surrounded the vehicle, broke its windows, pulled its driver and a passenger, Rickia Young and her teenage nephew, from the car, threw them onto the ground, and then pulled Young's 2-year-old son from the backseat. Young had to be taken to the hospital for injuries sustained in the arrest and was later released without charges. The Fraternal Order of Police posted a photo of a policewoman holding Young's son to Twitter and Facebook, claiming that the child had been found wandering the streets and that they were protecting him. The police union was accused of lying in the post showing an officer carrying the toddler, and removed the posts after, according to them, they "learned of conflicting accounts of the circumstances" over how the toddler ended up in the hands of police.
October 28In response to the protests, Philadelphia announced a citywide curfew on October 28 from 9:00 pm on October 28 to 6:00 am the following day. No major protests took place. 40 people were arrested for charges including assault on police, burglary, failure to curfew, and vehicle theft. Four police officers were injured, and 11 automated teller machines (ATMs) were blown up.
October 30On October 30, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf deployed the National Guard to Philadelphia and stationed them outside City Hall and the Municipal Services Building. Another curfew was imposed, beginning at 9 pm on October 30 and ending at 6 am on October 31. Two men were charged with felony possession of weapons of mass destruction after illegal explosives, bolt cutters and machetes were found in their van. Officials said the two men were attempting to blow up ATMs.
October 31A crowd estimated at upward of 1,000 turned out in West Philadelphia for a protest, with the demonstration originally due to gather at 61st and Locust streets, near the site of the original killing.
ReactionsBoth Wallace's father and his cousin, Anthony Fitzhugh, decried any looting or violence which took place during the protests.
US President Donald Trump connected the riots with Mayor Kenney, saying that "the mayor or whoever it is that's allowing people to riot and loot and not stop them is.just a horrible thing" and noting that they took place in "a Democrat-run state, a Democrat-run city". Trump also said, "Philadelphia was torn up by Biden-supporting radicals", and, "Biden stands with the rioters, and I stand with the heroes of law enforcement." White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farah said on October 27 that the White House was "prepared to deploy federal resources" in response to the unrest. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany similarly suggested in a statement that the White House "stands ready, upon request, to deploy any and all federal resources to end these riots", calling them "the most recent consequence of the liberal Democrats' war against the police".
Biden responded to the protests saying, "There is no excuse whatsoever for the looting and the violence. None whatsoever. I think to be able to protest is totally legitimate. It's totally reasonable."
Additional locationsA group of protestors gathered in Portland, Oregon on October 27, and marched through North Portland. It was one of three separate demonstrations in the city that night, with one crowd gathering at Arbor Lodge Park and marched to Portland Commissioner Dan Ryan's house, and called on him to further defund the Portland Police Bureau.
Protests and violence were seen in New York City on October 27, with protesters arrested in Brooklyn after reports of damage to property. Police stated that police vehicles were damaged, and trash cans, American flags and additional objects were set on fire in videos on social media. Officers and protesters met near Boerum Place, a train station in Brooklyn, where several officers were reportedly injured after a car tried to drive through a group of police.
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3. Initial stop of fire opal
On the evening of Tuesday, October 20, 2020, 19-year-old Stinnette and his 20-year-old girlfriend Williams, who have a child together, were in their parked car outside Williams's mother's house in Waukegan, Illinois, a suburb of about 86,000 people 30 miles (48Â km) north of Chicago. According to police, a suspicious vehicle was reported shortly before midnight, and when a white Waukegan police officer approached the car to investigate, it unexpectedly fled.
In an October 27 statement to reporters from her hospital room, Williams disputed the official police account. According to Williams, while she and Stinnette were sitting in their parked car, an officer pulled up without activating his car's lights or siren. Williams said she opened the window and turned on her car's interior lights. The officer referred to Stinnette by name, saying "I know you from jail", and referred to Williams as Stinnette's "baby mother". According to Williams, when Williams asked the officer if they were free to leave, the officer stepped back from the car, and Williams drove away slowly; the officer did not activate his car's lights or follow Williams.
Body camera footage of the initial stop by the white police officer released on October 28 shows the officer telling Stinnette that he is under arrest three times, the second time stating that Stinnette had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. The officer has his hand on the car and tells Stinnette to exit the vehicle, when the car "speeds off".
It is unclear from the footage whether the car made contact with the officer.
The officer does not immediately pursue Williams, instead he calls for backup, identifying Williams and Stinnette by name.
