In Memory Of: Black Women Who Died Unjustly

Adaisha Miller

A woman celebrating the weekend before her 25th birthday last July was fatally shot Sunday when she hugged off-duty police officer, Issac Parish, while dancing at a party, causing the officer’s service weapon to fire, according to police and her mother. The shooting happened at an outdoor social gathering about 12:30 am on the city’s west side., according to police Sgt. Eren Stephens. As Stephens told it, the woman “embraced the officer from behind, causing the holstered weapon to accidentally discharge.”

The bullet punctured Miller’s lung and hit her heart, and she died at a hospital. The Detroit officer remained on administrative duties while authorities investigated the shooting and reported their findings to the Wayne County prosecutor. Varying reports that Adaisha was either kneeling behind the officer and performing an exotic dance when she accidentally triggered the officer’s gun, or that she came to the party stumbling drunk and reached for him and the gun went off have raised suspicions about how Adaisha was actually shot and whether it was indeed an accident.