"He's not doing anything wrong, he is just scaring my wife"
And that is all it takes. Something as simple as this to have someone end up dead.
There is still something systemically wrong with police reaction that results in deaths, but let's look at ourselves for a moment.
Someone is acting a little weird and we feel the need to call the police because it scares you?
Why are you scared? Because they aren't the same color as you? Because they have behaviors that don't align with your "normal?"
There was no immediate threat, no offensive action, nothing.
This doesn't start with the cops being at fault, it starts with us and our ridiculous fears.
This is why black and autistic parents are so scared for their children. They don't look or act "normal". So we parents spend all our time trying to hide them from those who are not like them, trying to make sure they don't stand out because someone's irrational "fear" will get the cops called on them...and right now that too often ends in death.
And don't accuse me of not knowing what this is like, we've already had someone in our neighborhood call the cops regarding our child when he was 11 and alone at the park.
Are we really that scared of each other than we can't just let the person alone, that we need to involve the cops?
This is where the racism starts, not with the cops, back with us. The police are just an extension of our own fears. If you called the cops that resulted in someone's death, you are not free from the responsibility of that death. Remember that.