My Unarmed Son Was Shot by Chicago Police

After drinking several beers before starting his shift, Chicago Police Officer Gildaro Sierra responded to a domestic dispute, chased a young man through the streets and fired 16 shots at him, striking him seven times. This cost the city $4.1 million.

The dead man's father, Emmett Farmer, says he prays for the officer who killed his son. This is a grieving dad's story.

Money doesn’t bring a life back. It won’t bring back my son. In our case we got the satisfaction of a settlement but no admission of guilt; it was a hollow victory.

My son’s name was Flint Farmer. He was killed in June of 2011. He was 29 ...

The night he was killed, there was another domestic dispute, something about the kids. Flint had come home and they started beefing ...

When the Chicago cops arrived, Flint fled the house — he didn’t want to go to jail again behind that woman. The cops chased him ...

Sierra, 33, was an 11-year veteran of the force. He emptied his weapon, a Sig Sauer semi-automatic — 16 rounds, in two separate bursts. A patrol car that rolled up during the brief confrontation captured video of Officer Sierra in the moments after he started shooting. Flint was down on the ground, on his face, bleeding. I don’t know if he was even conscious. Officer Sierra walked around the body in a semicircle. Then he fired three more shots. It’s all on the video. ...

Not every cop is bad. I don’t believe that. ... But when you do get a bad cop, there needs to be something in place to make sure they are punished. I don’t think the cops are in a very good position to judge their own.

Emmett Farmer,
as told to Chicago writer Ben Feldheim
» read more at WeAreMel.com

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