Tamon Robinson (1985-2012)

January 10, 2018 
/ Contributed By: Samuel Momodu

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Tamon Robinson

© Robinson family

Tamon Robinson, a twenty-seven-year-old African American man, was killed by a police car by two unnamed NYPD officers at the Bayview Housing Project in Canarsie, Brooklyn, in 2012.ย  His death at the hands of law enforcement continued the ongoing debate about unarmed African Americans dying at the hands of law enforcement and helped inspire theย Black Lives Matter Movement, which was formed one year later in 2013.

Tamon Robinson was born in 1985 to Laverne Dobbinson and an unknown father. Little information is available on his early life. Immediately prior to his death, he was working as a cashier at a Connecticut Muffin store in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. He also had a side business selling construction debris to scrap dealers. Robinson had been arrested in the past for illegally digging up cobblestones. In one arrest,ย he served a 15-day jail sentence.

On April 12, 2012, New York City police officers arrived at the Bayview Houses Housing Project in Canarsie, Brooklyn. They claimed they were responding to a call indicating that someone was stealing paving stones from the grounds. Robinson, who was digging up stones at the time, saw the police and started to run to the project building where his mother lived. The NYPD officers chased him in their car, following him off the street and onto a walkway in the project. Officers claimed they were trying to use their car to block the entrance to the building where Robinson was heading. Robinson collided with the patrol car and was hospitalized due to injuries caused by the collision. After six days, on April 18, 2012, Robinson was declared brain dead, and his family ordered that he be taken off life support.ย  He died shortly afterward.

NYPD officers and witnesses who saw the event gave conflicting accounts of the incident. Two women claimed they saw the patrol car moving when it hit Robinson. The official police report, however, claims the vehicle was stopped on the walkway and that Robinson ran into the side of the police car, fell to the ground, and struck his head.ย  His falling and striking his head on the ground, they believed, caused his eventual death. The New York City medical examinerโ€™s autopsy report listed Robinson’s cause of death as head injuries from the fall to the ground, but it did not determine how he fell or who caused the injury.

In 2014, two years later, the City of New York agreed to pay a $2 million settlement to Robinson’s family in response to a wrongful death lawsuit. The police officers who drove the patrol car were declared not responsible for Robinsonโ€™s death.

About the Author

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Samuel Momodu, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, received his Associate of Arts Degree in History from Nashville State Community College in December 2014 and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from Tennessee State University in May 2016. He received his Master of Arts Degree in history from Southern New Hampshire University in June 2019.

Momoduโ€™s main areas of research interest are African and African American History. His passion for learning Black history led him to contribute numerous entries to BlackPast.org for the last few years. Momodu has also worked as a history tour guide at President Andrew Jacksonโ€™s plantation home near Nashville, the Hermitage. He is currently an instructor at Tennessee State University. His passion for history has also helped him continue his education. In 2024, he received his Ph.D. in History from Liberty University, writing a dissertation titled The Protestant Vatican: Black Churches Involvement in the Nashville Civil Rights Movement 1865-1972. He hopes to use his Ph.D. degree to become a university professor or professional historian.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Momodu, S. (2018, January 10). Tamon Robinson (1985-2012). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/robinson-tamon-1985-2012/

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