Over 1,100 died this past year when interacting with law enforcement and over 100,000 suffered injuries that required a visit to the ER.
ER doctor Geoffrey Mount Varner MD, MPH, has seen the
aftermath of what goes wrong when the police have altercations with
civilians. In fact, after seeing the injuries pile up over the past two
decades, he couldn’t remain silent any longer.
“My 11-year-old son is old enough to be killed by the
police. As a father of an African American boy, I’m especially concerned with
what could happen when black youth are stopped or pulled over by the police,”
says Dr. Varner, who authored a book to address what one should do when pulled
over or stopped by the police. He hopes parents read the book and encourage
their children to follow these invaluable steps.
Home Alive: 11 Must Steps to Surviving
Encounters with the Police empowers parents with survival skills
to teach their children to make it home alive. It provides the necessary
advice of what one should say or do in a vulnerable situation.
Dr. Varner has seen many people come into the ER that have
experienced violence. His two decades of experience includes serving as the
medical director and assistant fire chief for EMS in Washington DC and the
chairman of Emergency Medicine at Howard University Hospital. He also served on
the DC mayor’s EMS Task Force.
“I recognize that many people are going to disagree with at
least a few of these rules and that’s okay,” says Dr. Varner. “But by
having a discussion of what to do in such situations will help our young black
men and other youths return home safely.”
“This book will save your child’s or loved one’s life. It is
not about rather you agree or like the recommendations. It is about seeing your
loved one alive. When it comes to my son, I can fix whatever happened to him
and his ego during the police encounter. But I can’t fix death. Just get him
home and both of us can address the encounter.”
He adds:
“It is sad and unfortunate that this type of book is needed. It pains me that
we even need a book like this but more and more Americans -- especially black
males -- are being injured and killed each year and we need to offer help in
any way we can.”
Below is a Q & A with Dr. Varner:
1. Dr.
Varner, what inspired you to write Home Alive? As a practicing ER
physician of two decades who used to run a level-one trauma center in an urban
environment for several years, I bring a unique perspective to the debate of
how we can save lives when civilians interaction with the police. I have seen
too many casualties that have come as the result of civilian-police
confrontations. I have an 11-year-old son who is old enough to be killed by the
police. When a recorded video killing of a young black person at the hands of
the police surfaces, I make my kids sit and watch the video with me and we use
the media story as the basis for our ongoing police relations conversation.
After one of the videos my son asked me: “What are you doing about this,
Daddy?” This is my answer to that question.
2. What
makes your book different? You are not a lawyer or in law enforcement,
so what makes you qualified to speak on this? I am an emergency medicine
physician, a Harvard graduate, a father and someone who sees the impact and
pain from death every time I go to work. I uniquely know that regardless of the
who, what, when, and where of death, there are people who are left to endure
the unending pain of having lost a loved one. My unique perspective based on
seeing sudden death and violence in the ER combined with the fact that I have
two siblings who were both former prosecutors and are now sitting judges, I
have a perspective that no one else can have in the world. There is not a law,
or even two laws, that can be passed that will suddenly stop the American crisis
of police killings and deaths. This crisis is going to take years to solve. In
the meantime, 3.4 citizens are being killed per day, with a disproportionate
number being young black males. And a disproportionate number of the young
black males are unarmed. We have an American crisis. We are the cavalry. We
must immediately start saving lives. Based on over 2,000 hours of
research and interviews, I developed a survival tool kit that will immediately
begin to save lives.
3. You
have an 11-year-old son. Are you deathly afraid he can wind up another
statistic even if he does nothing wrong? I have great concern and angst
that my son, your son, your nephew, daughter, niece, or your loved one will
wind up a statistical victim of violence. This is about being concerned
about someone you love more than yourself being taken away from you for reasons
that don’t make sense. My son is a black male. The world is going to treat him
differently. We can prepare him for that challenge. But I have to prepare for how
to interact with the police, because initially and often they will only see a
black male and all the stereotypes the officer chooses to
harbor. Additionally, most people think that police violence
will never happen to them because after all, they are law-abiding citizens. The
only time most citizens come in contact with the police are for traffic stops
or when they’re in need:
i. 30-40% of those killed by the police started
off as a simple traffic stop or as a domestic call.
ii. 20 – 30 % of those killed by the police were
unarmed
4. As
an ER doctor of two decades in a busy urban area, what did you witness to
inform your impressions of the interactions between the police and citizenry,
specifically with young black males? Often, by the time the officers and
the assailant arrive to the ER they have already managed through the more
aggressive phase. Hence, my perspective is different and if the arrestee is
injured, he is more focused on his life than the police interactions. Often, I
experience an intersection of the black male and police officer, finding common
ground especially for those arrested when the officer had other options.
The exchange between the officer and the arrestee is more about seeking clarity
and explanations. When there were clear undeniable reasons for the arrest, the
intersection of the officer and the black male is more confrontational. The
officer is more aggressive and judgmental. The black male is often more
defiant, often related to the aggressive manner of the arrest.
5. So,
you say that your book doesn’t look to prosecute cops nor make people feel like
victims. Rather, you simply seek to save lives and not risk unnecessary
injuries during police-citizen interactions. Why is such a book needed? The
book is needed because the Unites States has more police killings of citizens
than any other industrialized country in the world and black males are killed
at a disproportionate rate than their peers I get it, the police want to make
it home alive and often their motto is, “I would rather be judged by 12 than
carried by 6.” Police first want to feel safe and then respected. If the
police feel threatened, they are trained to react with a force that is greater
than the perceived threat. There are 3.4 citizens killed by the police
each day. There are even significantly more citizens who are injured by the
police each day. It is sad and unfortunate that a book of this nature is
needed. But until the problem of police killings are fixed we need a bridge to
help slow the killings. We all have to play a part. For example, if
citizens can calm themselves and slow things even before the stop and
during the interaction then there is a greater likelihood that officers will
feel less threatened and have more time to react in non-life-threatening
situations. The way we calm ourselves is to prepare for the interaction now
before the stop.
6. What
would you say in response to African-American activists who may feel you are
silencing their narratives in police-citizen relations? Where do you think
the tension stems from? I would say that their narrative exists within my
book. My book does not change any group’s activism. In fact, it is because of
the book that their activism can exist and flourish. Let’s be
clear, from my perspective, a traffic or police stop is not the time for
activism. It is the time to change your focus and go into survival mode. It is
the time to figure out how to make it home alive and unharmed. You know what
they call a dead activist? Dead! You know what they call the parents of a
dead activist? A person experiencing a pain worse than death. It is an
inconsolable pain. A pain so deep that their heart literally hurts.
7.
What are some of the 11 tips and strategies shared in your book that, if
followed, could greatly reduce the chances of an unnecessary altercation with
the police?
“When pulled over, everyone in the
car is pulled over”
a.
It is not just the driver who the police are concerned about. They are
concerned about everyone and anyone in the car who can harm them. Your
friend in the back must be focused on the goal too.
b.
Know who is in the car with you. Set clear expectations about expected behavior
when pulled over.
“Don’t run”
c.
When you run, your “flight or fight response” is heightened. Your adrenaline
(epinephrine and norepinephrine) increases. You are amped. But there is also a
stress hormone, cortisol that increases as well. Increased amounts of cortisol
clouds judgment.
d.
Hence, you have the assailant and the police with increased cortisol and likely
clouded judgement running to an area that is often outside the public domain.
8. One
of your suggestions is for civilians to cry or fake cry. Why? The goal of
crying is to try to create a human pause. Crying is often associated with
someone in pain or in need of help. Crying creates feelings in the person
crying, as well as the people seeing the crying. Crying gives the officer a
moment to see you as a person in need of help. The goal of crying is slow
things down. It gives the officer more time to give you the benefit of the
doubt. The book is a very transformative book and requires critical thinking.
It is important to keep in mind that the basic point of the book is to make it
home alive at all costs. Survive the encounter with the police and fight later
in court.
9. You
also make a good point that when you are pulled over by the police, everyone in
the car is pulled over. One of the things you suggest is using a cell phone to
record the conversation with the police. What should a driver tell his/her
passengers to do or not do? View this book as a survival kit. If the stop
is going well and no one feels threatened, you are on the safe side of the
interaction. But if the stop is not going well and it is escalating, you have
to decide what tools to deploy. Although the Supreme Court has been very clear
about the right of a citizens to record, you do not want to do anything to
antagonize the situation. I would consider recording until the officer
tells you to stop. And if he tells you to stop, put it down but DO NOT turn it
off.
Dr. Varner is a client of the publicity firm that I work
for. I do hope more people learn about his unique approach to solving a major
problem.
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