The Killing Of Jesus Huerta Poem by Dennis Ryan

Saturday morning, January 18,2014,12: 30 a.m; slightly revised Sunday morning, September 25,2022, begun at 8: 36 a.m. and completed at 8: 52 a.m.

Note: Jesus Huerta, age 17, was shot in the head with his hands handcuffed behind his back while sitting in a Durham police cruiser in Durham, NC, on the evening of Nov.19,2013. The Durham police claimed that Huerta shot himself.

"If nothing is true, then anything is possible."
--written by Friedrich Nietzsche (This maxim was posted on her office door by Dixie Barthomew-Feis, then Assistant Professor of History, Buena Vista University, Storm Lake, Iowa, during the 1996-1997 academic year.)

The facts in the case don't add up;
the camera inside the police cruiser was turned off,
not working; the police officer claimed he didn't
find the three-pound gun while frisking the boy,
the patrol car careening out of control. Was
the officer involved telling the truth? Do you
believe him? Did Jesus Huerta shoot himself?
Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez says so.
Give the police the benefit of the doubt?
When have the police ever given anyone
the benefit of the doubt? It's shoot first,
ask questions later; hold an inquiry after the fact,
exonerate the officer—shoot, maim, murder,
cover up from the chief down to the forensics lab—
and get away with it! Dear Jesus, who polices the police? ! ? !
In North Carolina? Nobody. Anywhere in the U.S.?