On the evening of May 5, 2004, SFPD began a high-speed pursuit of Cammerin Boyd, which ended in tragedy. Cammerin, while in the process of surrendering, was shot and killed in front of numerous witnesses. Police alleged that he was reaching for a weapon when he was shot, but witnesses say he had his hands up and in plain view when he got out of the car. Police also say that a weapon was found in the car. Now, an interesting note: this weapon was found hours later. This alone should raise a few eyebrows, but it’s a fact that unfortunately is difficult to prove otherwise.
After a six-week trial, the all-white, nine-member jury began deliberations on the afternoon of Monday September 24, 2007, and returned shortly after 3 p.m. with a unanimous verdict that the officers had not used unreasonable force.
The question that was put before the jury was whether the officers felt there was an imminent threat on the part of Cammerin that justified the SFPD’s decision to shoot and kill. Cammerin was merely attempting to comply with the orders that were being yelled at him by several officers at once, when one of the officers decided to use deadly force and shoot. Cammerin was a double amputee, and when the officers were yelling for him to get down, he tried to explain that he had prosthetics and could not just lower himself to the ground like the average person could. Why didn’t the cops listen? Did they not believe him? They say he reached out his hand towards the car and they assumed he was reaching for a weapon. What most likely happened was that he was reaching out to the car to anchor himself so that he could comply with their orders to get down on the ground.
During the trial, evidence of Cammerin’s past was allowed in for the sole purpose of attacking his character, and it undoubtedly prejudiced the jury. Was it relevant to the case at hand? Absolutely not! The deadly actions of the cops were under scrutiny, not what Cammerin did or did not do several years prior! What happened in 1993 should in no way, shape, or form justify the fact that those police officers used deadly force to end the life of an unarmed man in the process of surrendering!
What is important to remember is that although Cammerin’s life was lost, those who knew and loved him will never forget his spirit. He was a loving son and father. We cannot allow another family to endure an experience such as what the Boyd family has had to bear for the past 3 years. His murder was not justified, no matter what verdict the jury delivered, and if nothing else, we must all take to heart this lesson: we must not give up the fight for police accountability!
17 Comments
We as black people and minority people in general must take a stand against wrongful police actions; a line must be drawn in the sand, no more. This is a nation wide outrage it occurs every day accross this country. Black people MUST develope a back bone and stop these crimes.
The 14th Amendment of The Constitutional. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. All claims against such rights shall be held illegal and void.
RE: Constitutional Rights and Police CoverUps. I can’t but Wonder Why Every Agency that is Supposed to Help People and Those Folks in Positions to Right these Wrongs Like Politians and Lawyers Do Nothing to Right These Wrongs and Enforce Our Constitutional Rights. Why WHy WHy ? Whats Up With This ?
The fate of Cammerin Boyd is an atrocity that should be unthinkable, and I am saddened and outraged not only that such a thing could happen, but also that we (especially white people) don’t hold the perpetrators accountable. We white folks must also take a stand against wrongful police actions instead of pretending that it’s not our issue. When our brothers and sisters are being abused and we neglect to take a stand with them, we are complicit with the aggressors and this is disgraceful!
As police officers, we’re sick and tired of you whinning police-hating freeks! He probably mouthed off at the officers before takedown. When an officer orders you to do something, you do it NOW partner.
what a joke…how about the bullets that alter boy Boyd fired at the cops during the chase, how about the crimes he committed before the chase even began (not several years ago, more like several minutes ago). even Boyd’s loser mother who spent more time lying to get her useless son out of trouble than helping keep out of trouble could not get a MIXED jury (whites, asians) to buy this crap. Hey HERE’S A LITTLE TRUTH…THERES NO TIME OUTS IN A GUN FIGHT….GOOD BYE CAMMERIN, not another word about this thug again
My home state is Indiana, so this is new to me and am deeply sorry of the loss of a fellow human been.
We all like to be judges and at point fingers, its just us , we all have our own ways to see things and realities and that becomes us.
There is no perfect world as there is no perfect person is my believe.
Even thou the facts are a reality we need to take many factors in considereation.
Am sure in this particular instance the heat of the moment had to be top nutch, so to blame the police is not right either.
Law enforecement is to be admired, belive it or not have their lives taken avery single day somewhere USA, they also have families and love ones you know??
On the other hand gets my attention some states seem to have a larger number of minorities in the jail systems and to afford reasonable legal representation is out of the question to many, public deffenders are overworked and have no resources, seem to me, to give a good realistic , constitutionally granted representation. So normally the outcome will be a ” Guilty as Charged ” veredict, and our courts and jail system is overcrowded.
You guys on the law side ( police officers and law enforcement in general) are overworked, people looking at you are in all different opinions, you dont know who is who anymore.
Love and tolerance seems to have fallen by the wayside.
May God ‘ s Love bless America and its fruits.
May God bless us all
What a joke. “While in the process of surrendering”? Yeah — after a high-speed chase, following his attempt to abduct a mother and her child at gunpoint. Funny how you neglected to mention THAT fact. “Cammerin was a double amputee…” And WHY was he a double-amputee? Because the idiot had stolen his mother’s car years before (which SHE had reported to the police), and led them on a high-speed chase, during which he crashed the car and lost his legs. “What happened in 1993 should in no way, shape, or form justify the fact that those police officers used deadly force to end the life of an unarmed man in the process of surrendering!” What self-righteous bullshit. Cammerin Boyd was also a convicted armed robber. Anyone who uses a gun in the commission of a violent crime, such as he did, deserves no sympathy from the police, the courts or the public. No one made Cammerin Boyd a violent thug but himself. He only has himself to blame for the end of his wretched life.
This horribly one-sided article fails to mention that Mr. Boyd fired several shots against the officers while leading them on a dangerous, high-speed chase through the city after a failed attempt to abduct a young woman at gunpoint in the Tenderloin.
When the officers were finally successful in stopping Mr. Boyd’s vehicle, he ignored the officers’ verbal commands and the officers were forced to make a split-second judgment call in a very fluid and fast-moving situation. They knew Mr. Boyd was armed with a gun and certainly could have opened fire on them, as he already did earlier in the chase, or on the many bystanders nearby. Under the circumstances, the officers were clearly justified in their use of force. How in the world anyone can see their conduct as race-motivated under these circumstances, I just don’t know.
As for the introduction of evidence of Mr. Boyd’s past criminal record at trial, it was relevant to support the officers’ theory that Mr. Boyd was attempting to commit “suicide by cop,” a theory that had a great deal of support in other evidence presented.
Mr. Boyd’s death, while sad, was not the fault of these officers. No one is to blame for Mr. Boyd’s fate except Mr. Boyd himself. The officers involved should be thanked for carrying out their difficult jobs, instead of being sued and villified.
Did the Ella Baker Center stand up and fight for the Duke Rape Defendants? Nope, they stood up for the “victim.” Tell me this, if, in the Renato Hughes case, three white men entered the home of a black man with two whites left shot dead, don’t you think the surviving white would be charged with a hate crime? Do you really think your opinions are improving things?
Poor Cammerin…. maybe he should have had the sense not to steal a car and lead the nortorious SF Police on a high speed chase!
What did he think was going to happen?
In my limited experience with the SFPD, I exercise extreme caution as I am aware they can be very harsh, but your article is a biased and ridiculous slanted piece of fluff.
Maybe he shouldn’t have stolen the car, led the police on a high speed chase, and then expected to peacefully surrender?
Did he shoot at the police? It was reported that he did. If so, did he believe he would receive a civic medal when he finally was cornered and surrendered?
You should really stop and think before you write such a ridiculous article, cloak it in racism, it only serves to discredit you.
Address the underlying problems which cause this type of crime, opportunity and economics.
Choose your battles carefully, this is one that is lost and will get you no sympathy.
The issue here is not whether Cammerin committed a crime or not, the issue is whether police should continue to have the right to take a life unneccessarily when apprehending persons who have comitted a crime? As a Black person in America, I say “hell no” because America doesn’t give the same life valve to people of clor as they do to whites. I live in Baltimore, Maryland and on December 5, 2008 my 23 year old nephew, who had just robbed a fast food resturant, was shot by a police after surrendering his gun. The police spokesperson stated the officer (there were three police officers apprehending my nephew) who shoot my nephew stated “After he had taken the gun from the assailant, he still felt threaten, so he took out his own revolver and shot the assailant at close range”. I am still trying to figure out how he felt threaten when two other officers were holding my nephew down, giving him enough time and space to take my nephew’s gun, secure my nephew’s gun while he took his own gun out and proceeded to shoot my nephew at close range. If my nephew had been white a lot more consideration would have been taken in hand cuffing him then in shooting him once he was disarmed.
Then after the police officer shot my nephew, the three police officers involved in this slaughter, they allowed him to lay on the street in a pool of his blood and bleed to death. The John Hopkins’ (JH) doctor, (JH was 5 mintues away) stated my nephew arrived with a no pulse nor heartbeat, but could have been saved if he had arrived sooner.
This is just modern day lynching, the same mentality of lynching black men is still being practiced today through the same criminal justice agency. Nothing has changed.
Boyd was a thug and a punk. A robber, kidnapper and criminal who shot at police during the chase. Stop making excuses for criminals and then blaming the police when your neighborhood is filled with them.
I’m really sorry to all the people that didnt know cammerin like i did and would like to pass judgement, but let me tell you…they killed him. I was there I know. Them bastards murdered him!! IN cold blood!!! He was sueing the police for alot of money…they offered him 45,000 dollars!!! He turned it down and now he is dead!!! They killed him in front of everybody and no one did anything about it…but if he was white they would have. People loved cammerin…like me and still miss him. I love you cam and always will RIP Love Nikki
Vanessa Brown wrote “my 23 year old nephew, who had just robbed a fast food resturant, was shot by a police after surrendering his gun.”
You’re absolutely right — they should’ve shot him while he still had his gun.
What kind of a fucking idiot plays the race card and tries to solicit sympathy for her dead nephew AFTER ADMITTING HE HAD JUST COMMITTED ARMED ROBBERY?! Let me guess: whitey forced him to become a violent criminal. You make me embarrassed to be black.
You reap what you sew, lady. Deal with it.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I knew Mama Boyd who was getting ready to do the Amadou Diallo mother routine. — my son, my son. Only Cammerin Boyd was as much of a thug as his mother was and is a thug lawyer. Her plan backfired. She had screwed enough people out here in her so-called practice and for once, she got it back in spades. Looks like that law degree that she used to cheat others, wasn’t good enough to overcome the karma of what happens when you screw with those who are even more creative. “suicide by cop”! Wonder where that came from. Hahahaha! RIP Marylon.
david mclean, police officers are meant to control their emotions and the situation in hand using the least amount of force necessary, I mean if every police officer thought like you then their would be a lot of dead mother-fuckers who just happen to do that stuff to make ends meet, And to all you dick heads that judge someone for what they do without understanding their mentality and reasons are fucking ignorant, no ones perfect and people make mistakes, that’s life. Oh and JC blur did it ever occur to you that maybe cammerin had a change of heart during the high speed chase, and so decided to surrender, i mean surrender, havent you heard of redemption, not every criminal wants to be a criminal all their life and maybe if the police ran a background check and thought to have acknowledged that he was and amputee then maybe this wouldent have happened. Although i can see how people can depict this matter cause everyone has their own thoughts, and i cant change that, AND LIFES A BITCH.