Eleanor Bumpers, the grandmother killed by New York City cops in 1984, was blamed for her own death, with officials citing her past criminal conviction and mental problems. “By dirtying the victims up, there’s less culpability on the police,” said LaShawn Harris, a professor of history at Michigan State University and author of an article in the political journal Souls titled “Beyond the Shooting: Eleanor Gray Bumpers, Identity Erasure, and Family Activism Against Police Violence.”