Amelia Royko Maurer: D.A. Ismael Ozanne chose Mother’s Day to give notice to Tony “Terrell” Robinson Jr’s Mother

This past Sunday, District Attorney Ismael Ozanne gave notice that he will be reporting his decision on the officer-involved killing of Tony “Terrell” Robinson Jr. in 48 hours which lands on Tuesday, May 12th. He had promised to give the family and the public 48 hours notice.

For the past 3 weeks, residents of this community have fretted over the idea that Ozanne would stand in solidarity with Dane County’s unattainable 129 year record of justifiable killings and not indict police officer Matt Kenny, who shot and killed unarmed Tony “Terrell” Robinson Jr. on March 6th of this year. They have been especially worried that the D.A. would announce his determination on the Friday before Mother’s Day thus taking no consideration for how that might affect Tony’s grieving mother. I, who have suffered my share of thoughtlessly timed announcements from both county and city law enforcement, assured people that no one who is truthfully calling for peaceful protest and honestly claiming to care about Tony’s family’s loss would be so incredibly daft as to push those who are hurting in to deeper desperation. To do so would sure seem like an intentional move to incite rage from those hurting and nothing could be more cruel not to mention, harmful, to the safety of the effected community. ‘It won’t happen’, I thought.

Perhaps I’m Dane County’s #1 most naive person but know, there are worse contests to win.

For instance, D.A. Ismael Ozanne did not make his announcement before Mother’s Day but on Mother’s Day. That’s right. Ozanne, who is an elected official, decided that no day would be better to interrupt a grieving mother than on Mother’s Day; a mother who was presumably doing all she could to deliver a smile to her living children on a day that likely reminds her of what is essentially every parent’s greatest nightmare, the loss of her child and in the worst way possible.

There are many reasons why dying at the hands of a police officer is, by far, the worst.

Had Tony lost his life to cancer, no doctor would have confused his vulnerable family and friends with lies as means to earn their trust. Had Tony died of a car accident, the insurance company wouldn’t have re-victimized his mother by releasing her address and telephone number to the general public. Had he suffered from a plane crash, the airline wouldn’t have released records of him as an innocent and juvenile bystander where in he could easily be confused and portrayed as a criminal. And had he died at the hands of a civilian, that civilian wouldn’t have been allowed to intentionally or unintentionally torment his mother on her first Mother’s day without him.

But when you die at the hands of a police officer, all of law enforcement is free, under the guise of ‘just following procedure’, to join in and make the nightmare inconceivably worse, for as long as possible. It doesn’t matter if this is the result of intentional harm or oversight. It’s on repeat play and the impact is harm.

Some will refuse to acknowledge the significance of Ozanne giving notice on Mother’s Day or they will act as if Tony’s mother deserved it since she requested advance notice. If this had been done to the children, wife or mother of a cop, those same nitwits would take note. But this wouldn’t be done to the family member of a cop for the same reason no officer is nominating their colleagues for medals of valor, for apprehending former Dane County Deputy Steele and his 9 mm after he had just murdered two sisters, one being the mother of his children. And it wouldn’t happen for the same reason the Wisconsin Professional Police Association broke trend and didn’t post the relevant article on their Facebook page, high-fiving the Wisconsin officers for apprehending a highly trained marksman and murderer.

Some suffering families and communities are treated with humane consideration and some are quietly tortured and told not to resist.

No leaders capable of rational thought could put their boot to the back of a suffering individual or community and not expect rage in response so this begs the questions: Why are some of our most powerful elected and appointed officials asking for peaceful protest while simultaneously choosing actions that cause harm and have the great potential to incite rage? Are they trying to start a riot? If they are, what will they try next, after nobody takes the bait?