Written by @kristenshylin_
According to TMZ, California prosecutors challenged Roger Goodell’s latest effort to stand against police brutality.
Last week, the NFL and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation released a 94-second PSA video promoting social justice awareness surrounding the death of Stephon Clark.
If you are unfamiliar with his story, Sacramento police officers shot the 22-year-old eight times, striking him six times in the back. The officers allegedly mistook Clark’s cell phone for a weapon.
In the PSA, Clark’s mother, Se’ Quette Clark, recounted the horrifying night her son was killed and addressed the need for new police laws to prevent future police-involved shootings.
The California District Attorneys Association countered the video, stating that it “performs a disservice instead of a public service by omitting the crucial facts which preceded Mr. Clark’s tragic death,” the tabloid reported.
According to the Sacramento Bee, the association penned a letter to the NFL commissioner, urging him to produce a video that “accurately depicts the conduct of all concerned in an officer-involved shooting.”
“Helicopter footage and other physical evidence established that Mr. Clark committed several crimes including car burglary, vandalism, and an attempted residential burglary,” wrote El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson, CDAA’s current president. “Mr. Clark was running from officers when he entered the backyard of his grandmother and took a shooting stance and advanced on officers who believed he had a gun.”
Pierson also stated that Clark’s autopsy revealed that he was under the influence of multiple drugs at the time of his death.
Furthermore, the letter noted that the PSA did not acknowledge that Clark was involved in a domestic violence dispute with his children’s mother 48 hours before taking his last breath.
Although the NFL has yet to respond to the California prosecutors, Clark’s family openly condemned the office’s “smear campaign.”
“The District Attorney’s Office is trying to make a mockery and discredit my brother’s legacy,” Stevante Clark said. “This is not something that is new to us.”
The family said the office is trying to “assassinate” Clark’s character and justify its actions.
“Stephon’s PSA, his public service announcement, is the fifth one the NFL and Roc Nation have put out,” Se’ Quette said. “And in the history of them putting these out, no other district attorneys have contradicted, or attempted to assassinate, or have taken down these PSAs. What this shows to me is that they’re afraid of the truth coming out.”
