Father of Slain Dallas Police Officer Sues BLM
Dallas police officer Patrick Zamarripa was on bicycle patrol during a demonstration on July 7 that turned tragic when Micah Johnson opened fire and killed him and four other officers. Patrick’s father, Enrique, is now filing a lawsuit against Black Lives Matter and a long list of activists – some directly involved with BLM and others who aren’t – while seeking $550 million in damages.
The Star-Telegram reports that Zamarripa supports an agenda being presented by conservatives who feel Back Lives Matter is responsible for sparking a “War on Police” that resulted in his son being killed in the line of duty. It goes on to refer to the movement as a “criminal gang.”
“While Defendant Black Lives Matter claims to combat anti-black racism,” the lawsuit said, “the movement has in fact incited and committed further violence, severe bodily injury and death against police officers of all races and ethnicities, Jews, and Caucasians. Defendant Black Lives Matter is in fact a violent and revolutionary criminal gang.”
Defendants in he lawsuit include #BlackLivesMatter co-founders Opal Tometi, Patrisse Cullors, and Alicia Garza, as well as Louis Farrakhan, Rev. Al Sharpton, Deray McKesson, Johnetta Elzie and more.
“I want justice for my son,” said Zamarripa. “He served three tours in Iraq, he protected his country, and he protected everybody. And he gave up his life doing that. When people were running away from the gunshots, he was running toward them.”
Organizers and supporters of BLM feel that the lawsuit is just another sign that the movement’s true intentions continue to be misconstrued and fall on deaf ears.
“You’re suing somebody who had nothing to do with this rally,” said Dominique Alexander, founder of the Next Generation Action Network, which helped organization the July demonstration yet wasn’t named in the lawsuit. “The only thing this [lawsuit] has done is continue to feed the rhetoric. There is a problem in America, and we have to come together to address it.”
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