Sunday, May 07, 2000
BRONSON: No heroes
No apologies to criminals
Lots of pretty pictures, like the colorful old postcards on this page today, have been collected to celebrate the restoration of Fountain Square this weekend.
Nate Livingston was planning to bring some pictures, too. Not the pretty kind.
He told City Council last week that he would crash the Saturday party by passing out 10,000 color autopsy photos of Michael Carpenter, who was shot to death by police more than a year ago.
He told me he would bring along water balloons and super soakers, “just in case.”
That sounds like Nate. When he says “we,” it usually means “me, myself and I, and maybe a couple of friends if they are not busy watching TV.”
As I write this, I don't know if he has done it or not. He has a reputation for writing rubber checks with his mouth. But his hobby is inventing practical joker “racism” protests that give Cincinnati a migraine. And I think he would consider that a compliment.
His demand this time: Mayor Charlie Luken must apologize to the family of Mr. Carpenter. Mayor Luken says no way. Good for him.
City officials have already offered condolences. Apologizing would insult the police, by implying that they were to blame. They were not.
Mr. Livingston and others who call WCIN talk radio to vent about the “murder” of Michael Carpenter are long past the point where cold facts are melted by hot-headed opinions.
But Michael Carpenter was no victim hero. His rap sheet included domestic violence and fighting with officers. On the night he was stopped, he was high on cocaine and weed. The cops pulled him over after they saw him acting like he was about to rob a convenience store — nervously fumbling in his pockets, asking a clerk for money.
They ran a license check and tried to pull him over. He refused to stop and finally pulled into a dark side street. When he was asked to step out of the car, he reached for something that police feared was a weapon. As one cop tried to yank him out, the car lurched ahead and the cops started firing.
I feel sorry for the cops. They have been through hell. One quit rather than walk the coals of reviews that stretch for miles. I feel sorry for Mr. Carpenter's family, and for a guy who had taken so many wrong turns that the fatal mistake of resisting armed cops must have seemed inevitable.
Fighting the law is the stuff they glorify in gangsta rap videos. But if those autopsy pictures say anything, they say, “Here's the glamour they don't show you on MTV.”
If Nate Livingston wants a hero, I suggest Brandon Cornelius.
Brandon, like Nate and Michael Carpenter, is a black male, but that's where the similarity stops. In 1996, he was playing basketball with his brother across the street from his family's apartment on Ezzard Charles Drive, when someone like Mr. Carpenter decided to even the score by threatening Brandon's brother. Brandon stepped in, and was beaten over the head with a board.
Brandon's mother, Cathy Cornelius, showed me the medical report: skull fracture and contusion on the brain; severe and profound hearing loss; traumatic brain injuries; poor short-term memory; difficulty with higher cognitive functions, including reasoning; disabled.
Brandon lost his hearing, but he never lost faith. His mother prayed, and her prayers were answered.
“It has been a real long struggle,” she said when she called to tell me he will graduate from high school this spring. “I'm just so happy.”
Now that's a picture to pass out on Fountain Square: Brandon in a cap and gown.
Peter Bronson is editorial page editor of The Enquirer. If you have questions or comments, call 768-8301, or write to 312 Elm Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202.
BRONSON ARCHIVE
