Jayson Negron, Jordan Edwards, Darius Smith
© FacebookFrom l.) Jayson Negron, Jordan Edwards and Darius Smith were all gunned down by police within a month.
Five months into the year and 2017 is already on pace to be one of the deadliest years measured for the number of people killed by American police and the crisis shows no signs of slowing down. At least 492 people have lost their lives at the hands of American police so far this year and as the number grows, I've noticed many extremely disturbing trends.

At least three different unarmed 15-year-old black boys have been shot and killed by law enforcement in this past month alone. As far back as I can research, we've never had a single month in this country's history where three different unarmed black boys this young have been shot and killed by police in three different incidents in the same month.

And, in each incident, what we have seen is the police make drastic changes to their initial narratives of why they were forced to shoot and kill these young boys.

When 15-year-old Jordan Edwards was recently shot and killed by a police officer in suburban Dallas, the initial narrative was that the car he was a passenger attempted to mow down the officer who repeatedly fired his rifle into the vehicle. Upon reviewing the body camera footage of the incident, the Balch Springs Police Chief then openly stated that the initial narrative was a complete fabrication and proceeded to fire the officer who was later charged with murder.

Since Jordan was killed by police, two more unarmed young black boys have been shot and killed by law enforcement in Connecticut and California. Neither of their cases have received the attention or coverage that they deserve.

Jayson Negron
© Christian Abraham/APCrowds gathered in Bridgeport, Conn., for a protest and vigil in memory of Jayson Negron.
I continue to be convinced that some of the problem is that we are so bombarded by bad news every single day of the week, from the levels and levels of Trump's foolishness to the repeated attacks by white supremacists all over the country, that it's sincerely hard for any of us to even keep track of just how awful the crisis of police violence is right now.

Just like police did with Jordan Edwards, the initial reports from law enforcement about the recent shooting deaths of Jayson Negron in Connecticut and Darius Smith of California were full of absolutely wild inaccuracies.

On May 9th, police in Bridgeport, Connecticut said they shot and killed 15-year-old Jayson Negron because he ran over an officer and pinned him "beneath the car" — which police claimed was stolen. The next day authorities said Jayson died from a single gunshot to the head and communicated to the family that he died instantly. Except that's not what happened at all.

Someone who was there after Jayson was shot filmed him, alive, on the ground, with his hands handcuffed behind his back. As he is bleeding to death, the video shows Jayson wiggling his feet and moving his head — which was actually not shot at all.

In fact, the local police chief was forced to come out the next day and admit the story about Jayson being shot in the head was a fabrication. Instead, he was shot in the torso and did not die instantly. Instead of receiving the life-saving medical care he needed and deserved, Jayson was allowed to bleed out there on the ground until he died. After he died, police later admitted that they left him there on the ground for at least six hours.
Jordan Edwards
© Tony Tutierrez/APSupporters holding lit candles reflected at a Balch Springs, Tex., vigil for Jordan Edwards.
We have no idea if he could've survived, but handcuffing someone shot in the chest with their hands behind their back, then placing them face down on the concrete, is a good way to make sure they die.

Now police seem to be saying that the officer was not actually hit by the car, but was about to be "sucked under the car." What does that even mean? Was he hit by the car or wasn't he? And how exactly is somebody sucked under a car? This is exactly what police did after they shot and killed Jordan Edwards — the story changed by the hour.

Now, on this past Saturday, May 27th, 15-year-old Darius Smith was repeatedly shot and killed by an off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent as Darius and two of his 14-year-old friends got off of a local train. According to Attorney Lee Merritt, all of the boys were shot running away from the man with wounds to their backs, butts, and legs. And, according to Merritt, Darius Smith, after being shot in his legs was then shot in his chest, execution style, from the law enforcement officer.

The off-duty officer claims the boys attempted to rob him, but the boys have no criminal record and who believes they would have done so at one of the busiest areas of Los Angeles County in the middle of the day? Something's just not adding up.

What's clear is that law enforcement officers in America have been clearly signaled that they will not receive the same federal scrutiny from Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions as President Obama and his Department of Justice put forth. Both white supremacists and law enforcement alike are well aware that their criminality is low on the priority list of this administration.