Is the police abusing their authority?

The police are a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. The police are here to protect us, not treat us wrong or lie on us, mainly African Americans, citizens. I have two friends that were murdered by our very own Austin Police, Nathaniel "Slick" Sanders and Byron "Lil'B" Carter Jr.

Slick,18, was shot and killed May 11, 2009 by Officer Leonardo Quintana. Slick was sleep in the back seat of a car that looks like a car the police had got a report on a couple of days prior to this incident, of robbery and shooting. The police said it looks as if Slick was reaching for a weapon so Quintana fired and killed him while he was still in the back seat. People, (200+), were so angry that they started a riot.
Lil'B, 20, was shot and killed May 31, 2011by Officer Wagner. The bike officers say that they were following Lil'B and his friend Lee because they looked suspicious. The officers found them in a parked vehicle. They, Lil'B and Lee, drove off hitting a parked Jeep and an officer. The officer was treated for a ruptured Achilles tendon, which was not serious enough to take a life, if you ask me. There were other actions that they could have took, like shooting at the tires to stop the vehicle from moving. Lil'B was found dead a couple of blocks away still in the passenger seat with not only gunshot wounds but with a broken leg. If the action that the police took was all that they said, how did he end up with a broken leg. The driver suffered from minor injuries to his arm. It almost seems as if they were only aiming at the passenger side which doesn't make sense. If you're trying to stop a vehicle and your first reaction is to shoot to kill, wouldn't it be at the driver? The police even tried to blame the driver for Lil'Bs' death, which is not right, you is the one the fired that fatal shot not Lee.

There is no thing that these cases have in common, the surveillance cameras. During Slicks shooting the officer that fired and killed him did not have his camera on. Both officers involved in Lil'Bs' shooting did not have theirs on. It is protocol for them to have it on when they are after a suspect, so why didn't they turn them on. I feel that they, the officers, knew that they were going to abuse their authority so they did not have them on. They probably didn't think it would escalade to that point, but somehow it did. We will never know the truth of what really happened, as they say there are 3 sides to each story.

There is more to these stories than what is being told and we citizens need to acknowledge that. We need to acknowledge the fact there is suspicious behavior going on with these police incidents. We need to come together and take action!