Newark police officer Jose Dopazo shot and killed Nance, an African-American, while he was lying face down on the ground during an arrest for alleged drug possession. Police claim Nance reached for a gun. But eyewitnesses told protesters August 1 that Nance was already handcuffed when Dopazo shot him.

Following the rally, angry demonstrators spontaneously marched to the nearby police station, chanting, “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” In addition to demands to suspend Dopazo, protesters denounced the police for ripping up the signs that they had erected at the scene of the killing. The sidewalk has been spray-painted with the slogan “Newark cops kill.”

Police and city officials moved quickly to defend Dopazo’s actions. “Based on what I know thus far in the investigation, I believe this officer made the correct decision,” Newark police chief Anthony Campos said in a statement.

After being inaugurated on July 1 as the city’s new mayor, Cory Booker announced a 100-day plan for Newark’s reorganization that includes deploying more cops and providing more equipment to the police. “On the face of it, I understand why the chief is saying this is a justifiable shooting,” Booker told the press. He also tried to rationalize the killing by pointing to Nance’s background. He was “a young man who had been arrested numerous times before…who was involved in illegal narcotics trade.” Booker defended the tearing down of signs by the cops that residents put up, claiming they were “inciting people.”

Groups taking part in the August 1 rally included the People’s Organization for Progress, a local group involved in fighting police brutality, the New Black Panther Party, and the Socialist Workers Party.

A statement issued by Angela Lariscy and Brian Williams, SWP candidates for U.S. Senate and U.S. Congress in the 13th District, respectively, said: “The killing of Nance is an example of cops on the street acting as judge, jury, and executioner. Police brutality and racist discrimination are a fact of life throughout the United States and are inherent in the system of capitalism, based on the exploitation of working people for the benefit of a wealthy few.” The socialist candidates called for more protests to oppose police brutality and to demand “jail for the killer cops.”
 
 
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