Although Rev. Al Sharpton appeared with officer Christopher Ridley's family after the Mt. Vernon cop's death, advising people not to rush to judgment, questions about the shooting are turning in the direction of race and societal divisions. The Friday night shooting occurred when Ridley, off-duty police officer, tried to stop a fight and Westchester police shot at him.
White Plains is less than 20 miles from the South Bronx and about five miles west of Greenwich, CT. The city's downtown is booming with luxury condo construction, but also serves as a destination for homeless persons seeking social services. It was right outside of the town's social services building where Ridley witnessed a fight among homeless men; it's believed the White Plains police mistook him for an assailant holding a gun.
The New York Times focuses today on divisions between the extremely wealthy residents of White Plains and the homeless who are bused in from shelters to obtain help with substance abuse problems, job placement programs, and mental health issues. The Daily News looks at the effect that race may have had on the shooting.
One of the cops who shot Ridley four to five times has been identified as black, but Al Sharpton is now insinuating that black men are viewed by police as expendable members of society. Sharpton analogized the shooting of Officer Ridley, who died attempting to break up a brawl, with the death of Sean Bell, who was killed upon exiting a strip club during a weapons sting. Sharpton also wants federal oversight of any investigation.
The Journal News talked to a witness to the shooting, who said it was quite possible Ridley didn't hear White Plains police officers yelling for him to drop a gun he was holding when they opened fire. The facts are the case are unclear, but so far, the story seems to be that Ridley was out of uniform at the time and rose from the sidewalk where he had fallen, or was knocked to, holding a gun that was either his own or one of the two homeless men whose fight he was disrupting.
Ridley was only 23 years old and mentored youth at the church where his father was a custodian. His mother pleaded publicly for local media to cease airing video of her son lying dead on the sidewalk. Ridley's mother wants to know why her son is dead. "I'm still researching, who do I want to blame? I want to blame a lot of people. I'm always going to be looking back and say, 'Someone murdered my son.' No matter which you look at it, someone killed him."
