November 13, 2026
On November 10th, 2026, the Connecticut Inspector General’s office released a predictable, yet nonetheless disgraceful, report justifying Hartford police officer Alexander Clifford’s murder of Everard Walker. The Inspector General determined that Clifford had “reasonable and legally justifiable” grounds to use deadly force on Walker, who was at the time in the midst of an evident mental health crisis. As abolitionists, we are struck with indignation at the conclusions of this report, and stand in full solidarity with Walker’s family, and all Black and Brown Hartford residents who have experienced violence at the hands of HPD with no justice served.
Irrespective of the HPD and CT inspector general’s attempts to justify Walker’s murder, it is clear that there should have been no police response in the first place. Walker’s own partner told news outlets they called for a mental health evaluation, not for police (NBCCT). And when HPD intervened on this non-criminal call to 211, Walker’s daughter repeatedly tried to stop them from becoming directly involved. By all accounts, it was HPD’s presence and actions that escalated the tension in the room, and exacerbated Walker’s crisis. Both his family and their attorney affirm that there was no danger in the present moment to necessitate police reaction, let alone deadly force. HPD’s response, leading to Clifford’s decision to kill Walker, does not signify that HPD lacks de-escalation training, but rather reflects that their training prioritizes the use of force and the threat of violence as an effective solution to a problem, over other possible de-escalatory measures. What Walker needed at the time was a mental health professional, not police trained to treat Black and Brown persons as threats.
It goes without saying that both Clifford’s actions and the state’s Inspector General report are not unique circumstances; they are but another instance of the same policing practices that have been used to oppress and justify the killing of Black Americans since the days of slavery. Law enforcement’s intrinsic dependence on violence to satisfy their roles, in tandem with centuries of political and social conditioning that deems non-white persons as criminals in their very being, results in no other outcomes than that of the murder of Walker again and again and again. No amount of “training”, body cameras, or “reform” will address the inherent nature of policing in the U.S. No amount of investigations from the state or condolences from city government will bring back Everard Walker, or the tens of thousands of Black Americans who have been killed at the hands of police.
The struggle against police brutality and murder of Black and Brown people will continue until we abolish the police state and the capitalist class that necessitates its existence. From Everard Walker, to our immigrant neighbors, to Palestine, we must be unwavering and uncompromising in the fight against the forces of white supremacy and capital.
Justice for Everard Walker
Justice for all victims of police violence.
