It’s hardly a secret that when black people are unjustly killed, justice for their deaths can be slow to follow or entirely absent. In the worst cases, not only is justice delayed, but the killer is rewarded with hefty payouts. Here are three times people profited from killing unarmed black men:
1. When former Ferguson, Missouri, cop Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen:
He resigned from his position three months after shooting Brown in August 2014 with a reported $1 million in donations, according to the Daily Mail. An unnamed supporter of the former officer told the newspaper she knew of at least $500,000 from two donation funds created for Wilson and that those figures were a “conservative estimate.”
2. When former New York City cop Daniel Pantaleo put Eric Garner in a deadly chokehold:
Pantaleo was not only spared from federal indictment, but he wasn’t fired until five years after the violent July 2014 encounter, according to the former New York City police commissioner who announced the termination earlier this year. When that happened, tens of thousands of dollars poured in to support Pantaleo and his family, according to a GoFundMe page created for the officer. It had racked up $177,333 by early December.
3. When George Zimmerman shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin:
The proud neighborhood watchman raised some $204,000 in donations on his now-inoperable website to support his legal defense, according to CNN.
Zimmerman was ultimately acquitted of murder in Martin’s death on Feb. 26, 2012 after he claimed the unarmed black teen was a threat. Martin, who was returning from a trip to the store, held only a bag of Skittles and a juice drink on his walk through his father’s gated community, according to an earlier Daily Kos article. Still, attorneys successfully convinced a jury that Florida's "stand your ground" law, which gives residents the right to use deadly force when they perceive a reasonable threat, was applicable.