Never forget John Crawford. The 22-year-old was killed in 2014 - while holding a pellet gun he found unpackaged on a shelf in an Ohio Walmart - when the cops were called on him.
A LIE ended up costing him his life.
Ronald Ritchie called the police. He told them a Black man in the store had a weapon he appeared to be loading and pointing at children! Not only did his dishonesty get someone killed, it led to a lawsuit. Walmart said it wasn’t their fault.
They blamed Ritchie.
Though the family and their lawyers wanted Walmart to take responsibility for not storing the gun appropriately, Walmart’s lawyers said, “Ronald Ritchie intentionally lied to the police. Ronald Ritchie was not a good Samaritan who was mistaken.”
Still, would any of this have happened had the store not failed to keep a gun properly packaged?
In 2020, Crawford’s family received a $1.7 million settlement from their city. And as of 2021, were in the process of filing a suit against Walmart, too.
We know some things for certain. John Crawford shouldn’t have been killed, and this entire situation is a disaster where no one wanted to take responsibility. But at the center of it all, the Crawford family deserves, justice, accountability, and peace.