‘Cop Lives Don’t Matter’: Brandon Tate-Brown Shooting Has Police Protesters Saying, ‘F**k Cops’


“Cop lives don’t matter” is the statement being made by some protesters in West Philadelphia in a seeming twist on the new slogan “black lives matter.” It’s possible the message was in connection to the recent Brandon Tate-Brown shooting, which has the man’s mother saying there was no excuse to shoot her son in the back of the head.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, after Ismaaiyl Brinsely executed two police officers, a former NYPD commissioner claimed that both Al Sharpton and Mayor Bill de Blasio had “blood on their hands” for their involvement in the recent protests. Although a second NYPD shooting was narrowly averted on Sunday, a police officer in Tarpon Spring, Florida, was shot and killed.

The message “black lives matter” has been used as a rallying cry for many of the protests in cities scattered around the United States. Now the counterpoint to this message has emerged, with some suggesting that “cop lives don’t matter.”

The hateful message was found spray-painted on a fence along Baltimore Avenue, and local police are looking for the vandals who left the anti-police graffiti. In addition to the message saying “cop lives don’t matter,” a church was defaced with a second message saying, “F**k cops.”

Cop Lives Don't Matter

The shooting of Brandon Tate-Brown took place on December 15, 2014. Two police officers in a marked car pulled over Tate-Brown for a traffic violation, and when they asked him to exit the vehicle, a struggle occurred. Tate-Brown is reported to have tried to force his way back into the vehicle in order to retrieve a.22 caliber handgun.

“Totally visible, it’s the butt of a gun that’s actually in the console between the passenger seat, kind of stuck down the middle between the console and the passenger seat,” Captain George Fuchs said, according to CBS.

When the police officers realized Tate-Brown was reaching for a weapon, one of the two officers opened fire, shooting the man in the head. Tate-Brown was pronounced dead at the scene 15 minutes after being pulled over for the traffic stop.

Evidence technicians said the gun was reported stolen on July 8, 2013. In addition, Tate-Brown had a prior criminal history, including two attempted murders and charges for theft and receiving stolen property. The man served five years in prison, and was released in October 2012. During his prison sentence, Tate-Brown earned his GED diploma and was planning on attending college.

Brandon Tate-Brown’s mother, Tanya Brown, claims there is “no excuse” for police officers shooting her son in the back of the head.

“Brandon was a beautiful and spirited young man,” Brown said, according to The Root. “All he wanted was to laugh and have fun. He didn’t want to die. He was no thug or gangsta, whatever they’re trying to call him. My son had so much love in him, so much joy. He would never be confrontational with police. Never.”

The mother also says a friend was on the phone with Tate-Brown, who heard him say, “This car is from my job, you can call my manager,” before the call ended. Although Brandon should not have had possession of a gun while on parole, Tanya believes it was not a reason for the police to shoot her son.

“What rights do black women and men have in America?” she asked. “That the police can say, ‘Even though his back was to me, I feel threatened.’ They never said my son had a gun in his hand, so I don’t care if there was a gun. There was no excuse for this.”

Tanya claims the reason her son committed the original crimes was because a “man beat Brandon’s then-girlfriend and hit her in the face with a pipe.” Although Brandon “knew it wrong,” he committed aggravated assault, and he later “told the judge he was wrong,” pleading guilty to the charge. She says her son had found a job at Hertz car rental, had recently moved into a new apartment, and wanted “to help children not end up in prison like he did.”

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