Miriam Carey
WASHINGTON – People in and around the nation’s capital on Saturday were stocking up on supplies, battening the hatches and bracing for the arrival of a possible direct hit by a fearsome Category 3 hurricane after days of dark skies and a soft but steady downpour that threatened to turn into a torrential tempest.
Two years ago, Oct. 3, 2013 featured a picture-postcard perfect Autumn afternoon, in the low 70′s with a sunny and vivid deep-blue sky punctuated only here and there by a few faint wisps of clouds.
Suddenly, at 2:13 p.m., a hurricane of another kind hit, a media storm and law-enforcement tsunami that began at the White House and ended a scant seven minutes later smack-dab in the shadow of the Capitol, putting the power center of the Western world on lockdown as an army of reporters deployed to cover what they feared was a terrorist attack on the heart of the American government.
After all the furor subsided, after all the streets around the Capitol were reopened, after the camera had stopped rolling, the stories had been filed and American citizens were reassured everything was alright – life returned to normal for everyone.
Everyone except a few. A beautiful young women was dead. Her child had lost her mother. And their family was devastated, in shock and unable to fathom what had just happened.
The media reported the woman had tried to enter the White House grounds, rammed a security barrier at a guard post, fled the scene, led police on a high-speed chase and run over an officer.
Except, none of that turned out to be true.
The media did get one thing right: Police shot and killed Miriam Carey to death just blocks from the Capitol.
Media stake out blocks from Carey shooting scene
The unarmed, single mother with a 14-month old daughter strapped into the backseat had driven from Stamford, Connecticut to Washington that day. No one knows why.
And no one knows why she drove up to the Secret Service guard post at 15th and E streets NW in front of the White House.
But, it seems fairly clear she did so by mistake because she immediately made a quick U-turn and proceeded to leave.
Secret Service guards, whose job it is prevent unauthorized people from entering the White House grounds, for some still-unexplained reason, then tried to stop her from leaving.
Carey departed, first stopped at a red light, then proceeded to the Capitol at an estimated average speed of 19.5 miles per hour. She averaged 42 miles an hour from the Capitol to the spot where she was shot.
For still unexplained reasons, police pursued her and shot her dead.
The day ended with members of Congress giving police a standing ovation for killing an unarmed woman who, as far as anyone could tell, had not committed a crime.
It just didn’t add up.
So WND did some digging.
Over the last two years, WND has published 83 stories on the Carey case.
Police press conference after Carey shooting
That includes a five-part series with stunning revelations contained in the official investigation made by the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. Police refused to comply with WND’s Freedom of Information Act request but turned over the report after WND successfully appealed to the mayor’s office.
WND has uncovered shocking facts in the Carey case over the last two years, but, still, the greatest mystery of all remains, the very one this publication asked while
reporting from the shooting scene on the day it happened: Did she have to die?
Even long before WND uncovered all of the additional details in the police report, once he heard the basic facts of the case in December of 2013, famed civil libertarian Nat Hentoff said from all of the evidence he had seen in WND’s reports, which he called very thorough and easily corroborated, “This is a classic case of police out of control and, therefore, guilty of plain murder.”
WND broke these revelations in the Carey case over the last two years:
Carey was shot in the back
Carey didn’t break any laws
Carey didn’t try to enter the White House grounds
Carey did not ram a White House gate
Officers gave no reason for stopping Carey
Carey did not flee or speed away
Carey did not run over an officer
Bad information may’ve triggered the police chase
Police knew of the child in Carey’s car before the chase
Police knew Carey was not a terrorist before they shot her
Police claimed to shoot in self-defense
Police statements are missing
Witness statements are missing
Video of the chase and shooting is missing
Other evidence is missing
Police refuse to release an official explanation of why officers shot Carey
Police refuse to release an official explanation of why officers were not charged with killing Carey
Legal experts concluded officers murdered Carey
Carey family filed $200 million claim for her death
On the occasion marking two years since the killing, WND interviewed Carey family lawyer Eric Sanders, who brings a uniquely informed perspective to the case, as a former New York City Police Officer who patrolled some of the city’s roughest neighborhoods.
He began by telling WND this a story every law-abiding American should care about because, “Miriam could’ve been anyone. Further, in a civilized society, we must ensure the rights of all citizens are protected from government abuses as the framers of the United States Constitution envisioned.”
“We must have absolute and complete transparency, as we have seen far too many times, police officers and other decision makers are not beyond covering up government abuses and criminal conduct for their pecuniary or personal gain.”
Police with guns drawn surround Miriam Cary on Oct. 3, 2013
Asked why he thought officers shot and killed Carey, Sanders suggested emotion was a factor in pulling the triggers.
“I think Miriam was killed due to simple male machismo in conjunction with the deliberate indifference to human life as evidenced by their lack of training,” said the attorney. “Miriam’s shooting is consistent with the overwhelming majority of these police shootings involving unarmed citizens.”
WND asked why, in his opinion, why were the two uniformed Secret Service agents and two U.S. Capitol Police officers who fired on Carey not charged with any crimes?
“I think the police officers weren’t criminally charged because the United States Attorneys Office didn’t have the political guts to handle charging the police,” was the blunt response.
“Meanwhile,” he added, “they are running all over the United States passing judgment in Ferguson and other areas.”
“Oh, and the same can be said for President Obama and the other politicians too. I guess since we didn’t use a slash and burn campaign, Miriam’s death doesn’t merit any attention.”
That was a reference to the fact Sanders and the Carey family did not attempt to politicize the case of the police shooting of an unarmed African-American woman in the heart of the nation’s capital, while still ceaselessly trying to bring the basic under-reported facts to the attention of the media.
Sanders described pending legal actions.
“We are still proceeding slowly while investigating this matter. From the outset, the government has engaged in actively covering up this matter. Therefore, it’s our legal position that any and all claims are viable and not fully ripe, consistent with recent court rulings. As we have said from the outset, we are more interested in getting to the bottom of this matter than pursuing monetary damages. We anticipate filing further federal tort claims and then filing the federal lawsuit sometime early in 2016.”
How is the Carey family doing?
“The family is shattered, there is not closure.”
The father of Carey’s child was an estranged boyfriend. He now has custody of her daughter. WND asked Sanders if the child was okay and if the Carey family was able to see her often.
“Unfortunately, the family doesn’t see Miriam’s daughter,” he lamented. “Hopefully, things will improve between the parties and they will be able to enjoy Miriam’s daughter as well.”
The Carey family planned a silent protest over what they perceive as the lack of justice for Miriam, at the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Plaza 1368 Fulton Street in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
“We decided to hold this year’s memorial in Brooklyn, New York because the family still felt there would be too many painful memories traveling to the scene in Washington D.C., as well as having a concern for the lack of respect shown to them by public officials,” explained Sanders. “In any event, the memorial will celebrate the life of Miriam and further marshal the citizens’ to demand transparency in this matter.”
Sanders concluded by adding, there is one thing that anyone could do to help bring justice for Carey.
“People could simply contact their members of Congress and demand transparency in this matter.”
Amy, Valarie and Miriam Carey
Follow Garth Kant @DCgarth