Protesters at Foley Square in New York City, by the federal government building, are protesting the ICE killing of Renee Good. | Photo by Swinxy via Wikimedia Media Commons
On a cold, snowy winter day a few days ago, an ICE agent fired three shots at Renee Nicole Good, killing her in her SUV on the streets of Minneapolis. The alleged shooter was Officer Jonathan Ross. The Trump Administration has its own version of what took place, while city officials and other witnesses have theirs. It’s hard to sort out the facts from fiction because of the highly politicized nature of the tragic event, with a controversial immigration policy in the backdrop. The truth is, it was a sad day for both victim and perpetrator.
From what we can glean from various footage of the incident and recent events involving Officer Ross, some incontrovertible facts have emerged. Ms. Good was unarmed and was unlikely to have intended to run over the ICE officers; she was trying to evade the officers after being told to get out of her car. Officer Ross, allegedly, fired three shots, with one bullet hitting her on the head as she tried to flee. Three shots at an unarmed woman who obviously did not pose a threat to a team of heavily armed ICE officers raises serious questions about the mental state of the shooter. A warning shot in the air would have been more than enough. And if she had gotten away, she could have been easily tracked down, arrested, and charged for whatever crime she was supposed to have committed. The three shots fired were to kill her. Why the excessive fatal force?
What was possibly Officer Ross’s mental state as the event unfolded? He appears to have an outstanding military record, including as a law enforcement officer. However, seven months ago, it was reported that he experienced a serious traumatic event while trying to arrest an immigrant. In that uncannily similar event, he was dragged some 100 feet in 12 seconds while his hand got caught in the suspect’s car, who refused to stop driving despite getting tased three times. In that harrowing and life-threatening event, Officer Ross sustained serious injuries that required 33 stitches. The likelihood that he experienced physical and, more importantly, psychological trauma in that last incident is beyond question. Although he received adequate medical care for his physical injuries, the mental health intervention provided to address the psychological trauma is not clear. It has been an elephant-in-the-room issue that has not been explicitly addressed.
Scrutinizing the event under a trauma lens provides a different but clarifying perspective. If Officer Ross had suffered severe psychological trauma because of the terrifying nature of his experience last June and his recent encounter with Ms. Good, which could have triggered a flashback, his defensive response, though excessive, would have frighteningly made sense. Officer Ross could not possibly make a reasonable judgment because his cognitive faculty was clouded and impaired by the horrible memory (called flashback) of his recent past, hijacked by a disregulated part of the brain that processes emotions, especially fear.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. Fernando B. Perfas is an addiction specialist who has written several books and articles on the subject. He currently provides training and consulting services to various government and non-government drug treatment agencies regarding drug treatment and prevention approaches. He can be reached at fbperfas@gmail.com.
