Jan 17, 2015 - Rapid City Cop Cleared in 5-shot Killing of Native American

Allen Locke did not deserve to die.

Today, Jan. 16, 2015, the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) released the results of its investigation into the murder of Allen Locke. The killing happened Dec. 20, 2015 after police were called to Lakota Homes (a majority Native housing development) to remove an intoxicated Allen Locke. LRI interviewed one eye witness whose version of events is not consistent with what is being reported by mainstream South Dakota media and what is in the DCI report. The DCI reports that Allen Locke raised an 8 inch knife and exclaimed, “it is a good day to die” while advancing toward Rapid City Police Officer Anthony Meirose, an officer who’s Facebook posts indicated an extreme willingness to profile low-income individuals  (Lakota homes is a low-income eligible neighborhood) as well as showing a proclivity toward using violence against human beings in his capacity as a cop (look at end of article for the screen shots of those posts the officer shared that went viral).

According to our interview with an eye witness Allen did not raise the knife but held it by his side; Allen did not advance toward the cop but stopped after taking a step toward the cop and being told to stop. Allen did not drop the knife when he was told to, but he did not advance as the DCI claims; Allen was shot once, realized he was shot, appeared bewildered and confounded, was shot 2 more times according to the eye-witness but in fact was shot a total of 5 times, being hit each time. All these discrepancies are reported according to an interview with an eye-witness; there are concerns that need to be reconciled between the reported DCI investigation and what actually happened.

Native people from South Dakota and other States are convening to find a way to redress for the family and for all concerned for their safety when they travel to Rapid City and for the Rapid City Native Community at-large.

*Photo of Allen Locke attending #NativeLivesMatter rally the day before he was killed Courtesy of Angel Mills, Nataanii Means and Mike @Witk0 Cliff