By Stephen Janis
Special to the AFRO

Seven years after the death of Tyrone West at the hands of Baltimore police in 2013, his sister Tawanda Jones returned to the corner July 18, where he was brutally beaten after a routine traffic stop.

Surrounded by family and friends, Jones said the pain over her brother’s death still lingers. But even worse for her, has been the aftermath of cover-up and neglect which continues to fuel police brutality across the country.

“We had over 32 witnesses who say they beat and tortured one unarmed man in broad daylight,” Jones said.

In the seven years since the death of her brother Tyrone West, who was brutally beaten and killed by members of Baltimore law enforcement, Towanda Jones has become one of the city’s most dynamic leaders in the fight for law enforcement reform. (Photo: Stephen Janis)

The gathering on the corner of Kitmore and Kelway was also informed by the present, as Jones evoked the names of other victims of police violence.  Among them Freddie Gray, whose spine was severed in the back of a Baltimore police van after he was hogtied in handcuffs.  And George Floyd, whose death at the hands of Minneapolis police earlier this year provoked a national uproar.

“When I talk about George Floyd being murdered let’s remember they gave worse to my brother,” Jones said.

West was pulled over by a BPD plain clothes unit after he made a U-turn in the North Baltimore neighborhood on July 17th, 2013.  Police dragged him out of the car and proceeded to beat him for 45 minutes.

West died shortly after the encounter.

The state medical examiner ruled his death due to dehydration and a heart attack.  But an independent forensic pathologist consulted by the family concluded he died from positional asphyxiation, or downward pressure exerted by an officer who sat on West after he endured the prolonged beating.

Then State’s Attorney Gregg Bernstein cleared the officers of any wrongdoing.

Since then Jones has protested police brutality and the system which bolsters it every Wednesday for seven years.  Her struggle to call attention to police violence has become a personal quest she will not stop until the officers responsible for her brother’s death are held accountable.

The city and state settled a wrongful death lawsuit with West’s family for roughly $1 million.  Jones, however, declined to participate in the settlement due to a gag order that prohibited brutality victims from speaking publicly.  That policy was overturned last year.

Jones told supporters she would never be silenced and vowed to continue protesting until the officers who killed her brother are charged.

“He didn’t die in vain, he died for change.”