Latest Black Victim Of Police Violence Mourned By Former Sock Will Middlebrooks

Jonathan Price, a 31-year-old city employee, beloved in the Wolfe City community (about an hour northeast of Dallas, Texas), was trying to break up a fight between a man and a woman at a gas station. The man then assaulted Price and when police arrived, they tased Price before shooting him dead.

Will Middlebrooks, a third baseman with the Red Sox for __ season, had been a childhood friend of Price. Middlebrooks said price was "singled out" when the police arrived and his death "was purely an act of racism". Heartbroken and furious, Middlebrooks expressed his feelings online:

See this face? This is the face of one of my childhood friends. The face of my first ever favorite teammate. The face of a good man. But unfortunately it's the face of a man whose life was taken away from him last night with his hands in the air, while a small town East Texas cop shot him dead. Why? Bc he was trying to break up a fight at a gas station... for some reason he was singled out. I'll let you do the math. There's no excuses this time..."he was a criminal"... Nope, not this time. "He resisted arrest, just comply with the cops".. Nope that one doesn't work this time either. This was purely an act of racism. Period. So, for all of you that think this is all bullshit, you need to check yourselves. I'm sick. I'm heartbroken... and I'm furious. Love you, JP. See you when I see you bro. 

Witnesses and members of Price's family said the officer who shot Price is white.

Middlebrooks later posted: 

Don't let the act of one man make you burn down a city full of good people. I know you're hurt … I am too. I know you're pissed … I am too, I know what JP would want … and ripping his hometown to pieces wouldn't be his answer. Justice will be served.

Naturally, complete strangers took offense to Middlebrooks describing Price's death as "an act of racism". (One person called him/it "highly irresponsible . . . disingenuous . . . dangerous" before someone else "fixed" his tweet.) Middlebrooks replied:

I am certain of it... so is everyone else in that predominantly white, country town of 1400 people... including my friends, who are white, that were with him when it happened... now is not the time to come at me with bs like this. Take a step back. 

Middlebrooks also set up an online fundraiser for funeral costs.

Marcella Louis was in bed when she got the call and rushed to the gas station.

And they wouldn't let me get close to my baby. I just wanted to hold his hand and they wouldn't let me do that. I just wanted to crawl over there to him. . . . That's what he always did, tried to help others. I taught him that all the years.

Charles P. Pierce, Esquire:

None of it makes sense except in the most basic sense. Price was Black and he was there, and, therefore, by the logic of too much of modern American law enforcement, he was a target. 

The precise number of Blacks killed by police in the US is hard to find. In July 2016, the CBC reported that "a comprehensive government database tracking how many times American police officers have used deadly force does not exist." The CBC reported that a Washington Post database listed 1,499 deaths in the 19 months between January 2015 and July 2016 ("in which a US police officer shoots, and kills, a civilian in the line of duty"). That's all civilians, though.

An even greater number of women in the US are killed by a current or former male partner or husband. Studies show that a woman's life is safer with a stranger than with a man she knows. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed the murders of women in 18 states over 12 years (2003-14), finding 10,018 deaths. The CDC study found that homicide is the fifth leading cause of death for women aged 18-44 years. (Black women had the highest rate of dying by homicide; roughly 30% of the victims were between the ages of 18-29, and most were black or Hispanic.)

Charles Haeger, a former major league pitcher and a suspect in the killing of Danielle Breed, his former girlfriend, was found dead on Monday, an apparent suicide.

The New York Times reports:

On Friday afternoon, Ms. Breed's roommate had returned to their residence in Scottsdale, just east of Phoenix, when "he heard multiple gunshots coming from her room," Sergeant Hoster said.

Moments later, Mr. Haeger came out of her room with a handgun, Sergeant Hoster said. "Haeger then pointed the handgun at the roommate," Sergeant Hoster said. "The roommate quickly escaped out of the back of the residence, and he was able to get a neighbor to call 911."

Jane Long told CNN that her daughter, who was 34, went by her birth name, Danielle Long. She said her daughter wanted to get a restraining order against Haeger, 37, for stalking her. (The Times: "A motive for the shooting was not known, Sgt. Brian Reynolds of the Scottsdale Police said". . . . Really?) Danielle Long owned the Tipsy Coyote Bar and Grill in Scottsdale.

Haeger's body was found along a trail at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in Northern Arizona. He pitched in the major leagues from 2006-10 and pitched in the minors for the Red Sox in 2011 and 2013.