Live PD, a well-known show on A&E that captures cops live in action, has been canceled because of protests against police brutality after the death of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and other Blacks who have died at the hands of police.
What We Know:
- A&E has made the decision to cancel its show Live PD amid the protests against police brutality. The decision came after a report from the Austin American-Statesman addressed the fact that the show captured the moment where Javier Ambler, a man who was coming home from a friendly poker game, was stopped by William County Sherrif’s deputies for not dimming his lights. Moments later, Ambler was tased four times to death while being held down.
- It was all captured on film by the crew and the cops’ body cams and it was evident in the video that Ambler pleaded for mercy to the cops, telling them that he had congestive heart failure and couldn’t breathe. He asked for them to save him before the deputies tased him one last time.
- A&E gave a statement to Variety on their decision to end the show, “This is a critical time in our nation’s history and we have made the decision to cease production on Live PD,” the statement said. “Going forward, we will determine if there is a clear pathway to tell the stories of both the community and the police officers whose role it is to serve them.”
- After the decision was made public, host and executive producer Dan Abrams posted on Twitter about how he was disappointed and convinced that the show would continue.
- “Shocked & beyond disappointed about this. To the loyal #LivePDNation please know I, we, did everything we could to fight for you, and for our continuing effort at transparency in policing. I was convinced the show would go on. . More to come.”
After the Statesman’s reports were released, Abrams did tweet that the Statesman should focus on the death of Ambler and the fact that District Attorney Margaret Moore is now focused on the matter when she had the footage for over a year.
