Joe Biden has called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, moments after shocking police video was released showing an Illinois officer fatally shooting Sonya Massey after she called police fearing a home intruder.

In his first public statement since dropping his bid for re-election, Biden said the shooting of Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, by white Sangamon county sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson, in her home in Springfield, after a dispute over a pot of boiling water, “reminds us that all too often Black Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not”.

Biden, who is recovering from Covid at his home in Delaware, said Massey, “a beloved mother, friend, daughter and young Black woman … should be alive today”.

  • Woht24@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Good comment but I think doing ‘illegal drugs’ in your own home is still illegal.

    • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
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      5 months ago

      Splitting hairs, but technically being a user or addict isn’t illegal, it’s possession or possession with intent to traffic, which are the crimes. Might vary by region.

      In any case, not justification for murder

      EDIT: pardon me, my reply keeps going to the wrong comment.

    • IamSparticles@lemmy.zip
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      5 months ago

      Fair. I should re-word. Yes, if they had evidence that she was actually using, that might be grounds for arrest. But they’d still need cause to enter her house and arrest her, and just suspecting that she’s using because she’s acting weird isn’t sufficient. Here’s my re-word: Just being high in your own home is not illegal.

      • Woht24@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Oh for sure, it shouldn’t be illegal. I’m Australian, it’s not actually illegal to use or be on drugs here. But obviously possession, manufacture, selling etc is illegal.

        But I believe in most states in the US it is illegal to use/be under the influence of drugs? Someone chime in if I’m wrong