Mayor Promises Investigation into Martin Shooting: ‘We’re Different from Ferguson’

Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins pledged Wednesday morning a thorough investigation into the fatal shooting of Antonio Martin by a police officer last night, and did everything he could to distinguish his town, its race relations, and its police procedures from nearby Ferguson.

“When I got [to the scene], we were all saying the same thing: ‘Here’s a white policeman killing a young black man; when does this stop?'” he said. “I can assure you that did not happen last night.”

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Hoskins said surveillance video showed Martin pointed a handgun at the officer, but also said he did not want to get ahead of both city and country investigations.

He took pains to differentiate Berkeley from Ferguson, which had an almost entirely white police force. “We have a majority of black officers in our city,” he said, adding the majority of the city officials are African-American as well. “Our experience is different from a city that has 50 out of 53 [white] officers. Our police officers are more sensitive, and it’s because of the black and white relation, and because they interact.”

Watch the clip below, via CNN:

[Image via screengrab]

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