Investigation underway into fatal police shooting of Sudanese worker at Oklahoma pork processing plant

Oklahoma state police are investigating the deadly capturing of a Sudanese employee by native law enforcement officials at a pork processing plant earlier this month. 

The union which represents employees on the plant has known as for a right away federal investigation into the Jan. 9 deadly capturing of Chiewelthap Mariar, 26, by Guymon Metropolis police whereas he was working on the Seaboard Meals pork processing plant. Based on the union, Mariar was a Sudanese refugee who immigrated to the U.S. along with his household. 

On the evening of the capturing, police arrived on the plant – which employs 2,600 individuals, in line with the corporate – to reply a name a couple of disgruntled worker, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) stated. Because the officers had been chatting with Mariar, he produced a knife and began to advance in the direction of them, OSBI stated. After trying to de-escalate the scenario, officers used a taser to stun Mariar, OSBI reviews.    

The taser didn’t cease Mariar’s development, OSBI stated, so an officer pulled his gun and shot him. Mariar was rushed to the hospital the place he died, OSBI reviews.   

A employee, who requested to stay nameless, informed The Guardian newspaper that Mariar was fired earlier that day, however had been requested by a supervisor to remain on to complete his shift. 

“I witnessed the complete factor, from once they began arguing with him till he was shot,” the employee informed the Guardian. “He had a company-issued band-cutter in his hand. When the police received to the plant, the man was already working, minding his personal enterprise.” 

The employee informed The Guardian he himself was fired after the corporate found he had filmed parts of the incident on his mobile phone. 

The union alleges that police escalated the scenario.

“The native police didn’t take enough measures to guard our members – and this employee as an alternative brandishing their weapons and finally taking the lifetime of a 26-year outdated younger man who had his complete life earlier than him,” stated Martin Rosas, president of UFCW District Union Native 2, in a Jan. 12 assertion. 

“The union will take all measures to make sure justice is achieved,” Rosas added.

In his assertion, Rosas stated Mariar and his household got here to the U.S. “to flee the violence and strife of Sudan.”

Guymon is a metropolis with a inhabitants of about 11,000 positioned in northwestern Oklahoma, close to the Texas and Kansas borders. The town had one homicide in 2020, and about 176 reported crimes, in line with police statistics. That very same yr, Guymon was ranked the most secure metropolis in Oklahoma, its metropolis web site stated.

Seaboard Meals, the nation’s second-largest pig grower and fourth-largest pork processing firm, has been embroiled in quite a few labor disputes and lawsuits. It was a part of a lawsuit final yr accusing 11 of the nation’s largest beef and pork producers of conspiring to depress wages and advantages. It was additionally named in a lawsuit final yr accusing main pork producers of value fixing. 

In 2018, the Seaboard Company, which operates the Guymon pork manufacturing plant by its subsidiary Seaboard Meals, agreed to pay a simply over $1 million fantastic over allegations that the Guymon plant employed and employed unauthorized employees, in line with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

OSHA has additionally fined the corporate for failing to document accidents that required greater than fundamental first support, and put protections in place to stop accidents from repetitive motions and lifting.

Seaboard Meals didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from CBS Information.