Demand A Full Investigation of the Newark, NJ Police Department + Drop All Charges Against David Bradley

On 1/08/2019 David Bradley was arrested and the city of Newark is NO SAFER than the day before. David was an honorable child, victimized by a city that separated all of us following our mother’s death in 2005. He was in the process of earning his GED to go to barber school when Mary Matthews was murdered in his home, just a few days before Christmas. My brother was a victim of this violence as well. He was forced to return to this home where an acquaintance was killed in cold blood, day after day, and unknown to him the Newark Police Department set their sights on him.

Without warning, and under the guise of returning his phone to him, David Bradley was apprehended and has never returned home. Now that home is closed off to him. The job he worked is gone. His child is without a father. And still Mary Matthews’ family struggles without justice. David Bradley hurt no one, and has been held for 17 months without a shred of evidence to substantiate his imprisonment.

I am asking anyone reading this to put themselves in David’s shoes. Imagine if a loved one, of the friend of a loved one, was murdered in your home, and instead of investigating their murder to the best of their abilities the police department took the easy way out, pursuing a random member of the household for the crime. But the person is not random, it is you, or it was your brother. And even without evidence, they are at the mercy of a jury to earn their freedom.

This is not how justice works. This is an abomination. There are no toxicology reports. There are no ballistics examinations. All that remains is a grueling, three-hour interrogation video where a scared young Black man is intimidated and coerced into telling the cops what they want to hear, not what happened.

David Bradley is innocent of the crimes he is accused of, and the Newark Police Department is guilty of corruption. They did not investigate the death of Mary Matthews, and if this can happen to my brother then there is no choice but to face the truth that this has happened time and again to thousands of Black men just like him. David Bradley deserves to be exonerated of the crimes he is accused of, and the Newark Police Department must immediately be fully investigated to understand why they chose a shortcut instead of seeking justice for Mary Matthews. She deserves more than this. David Bradley deserves more than this. And we will not rest until both of them obtain justice.

#JusticeForDavidBradley #InvestigateNewarkNJPD