Riverside is an exurban city about an hour’s drive from Los Angeles proper, but for most Americans, last week’s shoot-out was another ugly example of L.A. Law. News of the black woman’s violent death–at the hands of four white cops and one Latino–spread quickly through the community, and then to national television. At first, police said Miller had fired the first shot, but then they backtracked, saying they really weren’t sure. Before the week was out, protests were planned, and Miller’s family said they’d hired Johnnie Cochran. ““Those weren’t police,’’ said the Rev. Bernell Butler, Miller’s uncle. ““That was a firing squad.’’ But most local African-American leaders were waiting for more facts before making accusations. There were more questions than answers. What was wrong with Tyisha Miller that night, and what was she doing with a gun? And why did the cops open fire?
A high-school dropout who played basketball and church softball, Miller didn’t own the gun, and family members say she never messed with drugs. She had a run-in with the law last March when she was arrested for fighting and got probation in a plea bargain. Early last Monday morning, family members say, she was driving her aunt’s Nissan Sentra with a 15-year-old friend known as ““Bug.’’ They got a flat tire and wound up parked in a lighted area of the gas station. Bug left after calling Miller’s cousins from a pay phone. She later told the family that Miller was conscious and sober at the time. But when the cousins arrived, she seemed to be having a seizure, and she had a gun. Where it came from was a mystery. Toxicology reports on Miller weren’t due back for weeks; family members weren’t sure if she’d had seizures before. No matter what precipitated the shooting, it seemed incredible that the cops needed to fire as many as two dozen bullets to take her out–while her horrified cousins watched. ““It looks like at the least, we have a problem of excessive force,’’ said Don Bardo, president of the local Urban League. All the officers involved in the shooting except the commanding sergeant were unseasoned; two had been on the force less than two years.
Like most cities, Riverside has its share of racial animosity. The question now is whether those tensions can be contained. Weeks of lab work should reveal more about the death of Tyisha Miller. But out on the streets, Riverside is already testing the limits of tolerance.
