South Bend, Ind. Mayor and 2020 presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg faced a backlash of angry protestors in his hometown on Friday over the recent killing of a 53-year-old black man, Eric Larson, by a white police officer whose body camera was turned off.
“I do not have evidence that there has been discipline for racist behavior in the case so far,” Buttigieg said through a bullhorn in the face of numerous African-American constituents who had gathered outside city hall holding “Black Lives Matter” signs.
“You running for president, you want black people to vote for you, and that’s how you feel? That’s not going to happen,” one woman shot back at him.
Last Saturday, Larson was shot in the stomach by a white police sergeant, Ryan O’Neill, and subsequently died. The police had been responding to reports of possible car burglaries when O’Neill encountered Larson. O’Neill claims Larson was holding a knife and refused to drop it, forcing him to open fire. But since the sergeant’s body camera was inexplicably turned off, there is no way to corroborate O’Neill version of events.
The shooting has shaken the city, prompting Buttigieg to leave the campaign trail and return home to deal with the fallout. But some in South Bend’s African-American community remain skeptical of the mayor’s commitment to their safety.
“Will you say to
“Of course black lives matter,” Buttigieg responded.
“Then fire your cops!” one man shot back, before a black woman angrily confronted Buttigieg: “What matters about a black life to you, Mayor Pete? What matters about a black life to you? Answer that!”
“The same thing that matters to me about my own,” he replied.
Watch the video above, via CNN.