DECATUR, Alabama — It's been more than two months since Steve Perkins was shot and killed by Decatur police, and three months since sixteen -year-old Sparkman High School student Jaiden Dejarnett wrecked his vehicle as police pursued him attempting a traffic stop driving near Beltline Road Southwest and Danville Road.
Posters and signs memorializing Perkins and Dejarnett have been displayed outside of Decatur City Hall since the incidents.
Now, Decatur Councilman Hunter Pepper said, " So my, my stance is that if it is violating the city ordinance of the city of Decatur, then it needs to be removed. And, you know, I spoke with, um, I have sent out an official request for that to occur. Um, and then, you know, I've seen that there was some backlash from an attorney who said that, you know, that they disagreed with that. And I find it funny because that attorney is, uh, supports everybody following the letter of the law, and, the attorney has requested they, I guess, stay. I don't know exactly what the circumstances of that situation are. However, but my stance is that if they're breaking the law, they need to be removed."
Morgan County NAACP President Rodney Gordon completely disagrees. "To take those pictures, that's very disrespectful. If he take the signs down we'll put some more up. All right? We're not going to, I mean, you can, you can only do so much to people, man. You know, these people are going through a whole lot of stuff, man. They've been patient. They've been waiting. You understand, let me tell you something. You can, you can do a dog wrong. He'll break the chain, you know. So you keep on messing with these people like you messing with them, because he's trying to incite something, and he needs to be brought up on misconduct charges. I'm telling y'all what's happening. He's trying to incite a riot, I'm telling y'all this now."