THE WALL

A jury has found Rick Chow not guilty in the 2023 shooting death of 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton, closing the criminal case but not the broader debate it reignited. The case centered on a false shoplifting accusation, a 130-yard chase, and a disputed final moment in which Cyrus was shot in the back. While the defense argued self-defense, prosecutors maintained the pursuit should never have happened. The verdict has left a community divided and a family still seeking accou

Once you strip everything down in the Rick Chow trial, you’re left with something painfully simple. A 14-year-old, Cyrus Carmack-Belton, is accused of stealing four bottles of water. Surveillance footage reportedly shows he puts them back. The accusation is wrong. Still, he’s confronted, still he runs, still he’s chased over roughly 130 yards, and still he ends up shot in the back. And I don’t know how you sit with that sequence and treat it like a normal “self-defense deb