Vol. 77/No. 39      November 4, 2013

The 34-year-old African-American dental hygienist was gunned down by Capitol Police and Secret Service agents in Washington, D.C., Oct. 3 after she hit a barrier near a White House checkpoint with her 1-year-old daughter in the back seat. Shortly afterward the cops who killed Carey received a standing ovation by members of Congress inside the Capitol.

Within days the cold-blooded killing was dropped from most of the media, particularly the liberal press. And the callous and cowardly praise of the “protectors” by Democratic and Republican legislators was swept under the rug, with the exception of sharp criticism by conservative publications, such as the Washington Times and American Spectator. Individuals and organizations supporting the Barack Obama administration — from Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to the American Civil Liberties Union — were largely silent.

A police affidavit said the incident “was initiated by the woman making a U-turn at a White House security checkpoint,” reported the Washington Times. Carey then “began to flee the checkpoint and struck a bicycle rack put in her path by an officer with the U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division. The officer was then struck by the bike rack and knocked to the ground and Ms. Carey fled in the car.”

Officers fired several rounds at the moving vehicle. At least 20 cop cars took off after her in a 1.7 mile high-speed chase. Sharpshooters rushed into position along the route. She then crashed into a guard shack and cops shot volley after volley through the windshield and car door on the drivers side with obvious intent to kill.

Carey had no weapons, explosives or any other threatening items in her car. Instead, the cops’ search turned up a passport, social security cards for her and her daughter, a lease agreement for a New York City apartment and an uncashed check for about $1,800.

Since the birth of her daughter, Carey was diagnosed with postpartum depression, but medical personnel said she was not a danger to anyone.

During the pursuit of Carey, cops put the Capitol on lockdown and ordered everyone to “shelter in place.” House members and senators, along with their staff, locked themselves down in their offices. Tourists along Pennsylvania Avenue were herded onto side streets.

After the killing, Senate Sergeant of Arms Terrance Gainer praised the small army of cops and federal agents, telling the Associated Press, “The milieu under which we’re operating … is an anti-terrorism approach.”

“The cops could have shot out her tires,” Tracy Clark, a worker living in D.C., told the Militant. “They are supposed to look first before shooting. They could have killed that baby in the crossfire.” Standard police protocol forbids firing at a moving vehicle.

Similar breaches on the White House or Capitol grounds are not uncommon. But the panicked and murderous response to this most recent incident is unprecedented. This past June, for example, Code Pink activist Diane Wilson, in a protest backing hunger strikers at the U.S. Naval prison in Guantánamo Bay, jumped over the fence and was arrested on the White House lawn. In September 2011 an individual who had climbed the fence and was running across the White House lawn was taken into custody by Secret Service agents. No shots were fired.

“She was a beautiful girl, always had a cheerful disposition in my office,” Steven Oken, the dentist for whom she worked for eight years, told the New York Times at an Oct. 14 wake.

“You all know my sister was not some crazy person,” said Valarie Carey, one of Miriam Carey’s sisters, reported the Times. “So don’t rush to judgment.”

Glova Scott in Washington, D.C., contributed to this article.  
 
 
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