Killing of Marcus-David Peters

In 2018, Marcus-David Peters was a 24-year-old African American man and Virginia Commonwealth University alumnus who taught high school biology at Essex High School, commuting from his home in Richmond, Virginia.[1] On May 14, 2018, during a mental health crisis, Peters had a car accident in Richmond and then ran naked onto Interstate 95.[1] In an encounter that lasted 18 seconds, police officer Michael Nyantakyi, a ten-year veteran of the Richmond Police Department,[2] tasered Peters several times.[1] Peters continued walking toward Nyantakyi screaming, unarmed.[1] Nyantakyi then fatally shot Peters.[3]

Two reviews by local prosecutors have cleared Nyantakyi of wrongdoing and no charges were brought. In 2018, Richmond's Commonwealth's Attorney Michael N. Herring reviewed the case, releasing footage of the fatal encounter, and declined to bring charges.[3] Peters' family and other activists, who questioned why Peters was shot unarmed,[1] called for this incident to be reviewed by Herring's successor, Colette McEachin, who took up the case in July of 2020.[4] In November 2020, she announced her findings, concurring with Herring that Nyantakyi's actions were reasonable.[3] The decision has been an issue in the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election.[5]

During the 2020 anti-racist police brutality protests, protesters in Richmond unofficially renamed the grassy area around Richmond's Robert E. Lee statue "Marcus-David Peters Circle". It became a regular site of protest and community gathering, with protest graffiti and messages projected in lights on the Lee statue; images of the protest art were featured on the cover of National Geographic.[6] The area marked with a sign reading "Welcome to Beautiful Marcus-David Peters Circle, Liberated by the People MMXX".[7] The eight-foot-long sign was cut down in an apparent act of vandalism in August,[8] but was soon replaced[9] and gatherings continued, including a celebration of Peters's birthday in October that drew hundreds.[10] Organizers handed out plants and STEM technology kits to children in attendance in honor of Peter's work and as a symbol of commitment to the growth of the community.[10]

In late June 2020, police announced a curfew and other restrictions on activity in the circle, but hundreds of protestors responded by gathering after dark and the curfew was not ultimately enforced.[11]

On the weekend before the 2020 United States presidential election, a "Trump train" caravan of supporters of President Donald Trump resulted in an altercation with people in the circle, with witnesses reporting gunfire and chemical spray from the vehicles in the caravan.[12]

In the 2020 Virginia special legislative session on criminal justice reform and budgeting during the COVID-19 pandemic, House Bill 5043, titled the Mental Health Awareness Response and Community Understanding Services, or MARCUS alert system, introduced by Delegate Jeff Bourne, initiated a program to encourage use of mental health professionals to respond people in mental health crisis.[13]

Peters's sister Princess Blanding worked with legislators and attended Governor Ralph Northam's ceremonial bill signing, but in her remarks at the ceremony she excoriated officials for the final bill that was considerably less robust than the initial proposal:

"Please take a moment to pat yourselves on the back for doing exactly what this racist, corrupt, and broken, may I also add, system expected you all to do: make the Marcus Alert bill a watered down, ineffective bill that will continue to ensure that having a mental health crisis results in a death sentence."[14]

She particularly took issue with the discretion left to police, the years the bill allowed to implement the changes, and the potential for a patchwork system instead of a unified change across the state.[14]

She also criticized other bills from the session that were altered in the legislative process, including changes to a bill that limited newly-created civilian review boards, as well as the failure of the General Assembly to repeal qualified immunity, calling on all elected officials involved to "fix it."[14] In December 2020, Blanding announced a third-party campaign for Governor under the newly formed Liberation Party, criticizing Democrats for offering "crumbs".[15]

• List of killings by law enforcement officers in the United States
• List of police reforms related to the George Floyd protests