Thread by @DrRJKavanagh

CW: Police Violence/Suicide

A man being pursued by police after a routine traffic stop fell to death from a rooftop in Midtown early this morning.

Police stopped Joley Aristhee for having tinted windows.

nypost.com/2022/02/06/man…

It really doesn't sound like this was a suicide, but @nypost have written it up that way, so I put a CW on the thread.

If you are having thoughts of suicide call the National Suicide Prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.

But whether Mr. Aristhee did jump to his death or was simply trying to get away from police, he wouldn't have died but for them pursuing him.

For having tinted windows.

Yet of course despite him being the person who died for what was at most a traffic infraction, and we don't know if in fact his windows illegally tinted, @nypost describe him as a "suspect" exhibiting "suspicious behavior."

This brings back a horrible memory of a teenage boy I represented who died while being pursued by police when he leapt onto subway tracks and was electrocuted by the third rail.

To @NYPost he was a "thief," but he was brave, smart and immensely likeable nypost.com/2017/04/24/per…

Again to @nypost the sum total of who he was was a"thief" when the reason he died was because police chased him onto the subway tracks. For him ALLEGEDLY taking a small amount of $$$ from a newsstand.

If only all the cases where people die as a result of police violence garnered as much media attention as those where police were killed.

Appendix: @nypost has changed article to suggest more likely scenario is that Mr. Aristhee fell to his death rather than dying by suicide.