A passerby with a cellphone video'd a cop committing murder

Officer Michael Slager claimed that Walter Scott, a black man, overpowered him and took his Taser and tried to use it against him and therefore, Officer Slager, to protect himself, shot Mr. Scott. A passerby with a cell phone decided to tape the events and it shows an entirely different story than the one Officer Slager told.

Officer Slager shot Mr. Scott 8 times in the back while Mr. Scott ran from him. His family surmises he ran from the Officer because he owed child support and did not want to go to jail. Once on the ground, the Officer cuffed Mr. Scott and called in that Mr. Scott tried to take his Taser. Then appears to drop something next to his body -- the Taser.

North Charleston Police Chief Eddie Driggers said at a press conference that he was dumbfounded by the video revelations.

“I have been around this police department a long time and all the officers on this force, the men and women, are like my children,” he said. “So you tell me how a father would react seeing his child do something. I’ll let you answer that yourself.”

The Chief should be given kudos for reacting so swiftly, not defending the Officer's actions in the video and helping to squash what could have been a repeat of Ferguson.

The heartbreak, as if this family could stand more, is what if there was no passerby with a cellphone? This Officer could have gotten away with murder.

How often does this happen when there is no civilian with a camera around?

Bring on the body cameras. I've yet to hear a sound argument against them.

It is good that somebody caught the incident on video. However, given that Mr. Scott was shot in the back 8 times and given the intensified focus on police shootings, I like to think that a grand jury would have charged Officer Slager with murder.

I would like to believe that, as well. But, body cams all around, asap, please!!!!!

The person who took that video is a hero.

Interesting that he gave it to The New York Times and not to the local authorities, or to the local press.

Good for him.

sarahzm said:

The person who took that video is a hero.

Interesting that he gave it to The New York Times and not to the local authorities, or to the local press.

Good for him.

I don't blame him for giving it to the NYT. The history of government trying to suppress information coincides with the history of government.

tjohn said:

It is good that somebody caught the incident on video. However, given that Mr. Scott was shot in the back 8 times and given the intensified focus on police shootings, I like to think that a grand jury would have charged Officer Slager with murder.

According to dailykos contributor Shaun King there were 111 police killings of civilians in March. That number was greater than the total number of police killings of civilians in the UK since 1900.

Unfortunately these killings are the normal in America.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/01/1374908/-American-police-killed-more-people-in-March-111-than-in-the-entire-United-Kingdom-since-1900



http://www.killedbypolice.net/

The person that took the video could have put themself in mortal danger . If there were no other witnesses around this cop could have just shot them too. And then taken the phone. Body cams all around please. We only know what we know by the use of cell phones. BTW the Chief did go with the tried and true J5 defence of " One Bad Apple " . By the time this is disected we'll find out that NCPD is a bad orchard.

tjohn said:

It is good that somebody caught the incident on video. However, given that Mr. Scott was shot in the back 8 times and given the intensified focus on police shootings, I like to think that a grand jury would have charged Officer Slager with murder.

you'd like to think that. but a cop can shoot a suspect in the back legally if he can convince that grand jury that he reasonably believed the fleeing suspect presented a danger to civilians.

And then he planted the taser (or appeared to). That was pretty much the exact plot in a recent episode of Scandal. The element of obviously planting evidence seemed a little extreme to me then... Incredible episode, btw, and worth watching even if you're not usually a fan.

sarahzm said:

Interesting that he gave it to The New York Times and not to the local authorities, or to the local press.

The person who shot the video gave it to the victim's family, who gave it to a lawyer, who passed it along to The Times and to the local paper, the Charleston, S.C., Post and Courier.

Wow! I saw a report on the news this morning and it only showed the victim running and the cop shooting him. They only spoke about the cop saying the guy tried to take/took his taser but they never showed that part of the video. Without that piece of evidence it would have been a 'he said, she said' deal which probably would have ended up in the cop's favor. Thankfully someone was apparently able to capture the entire event and not just part of it.

The sad thing is, this makes it bad for all of the good cops out there especially when the bad guy is a different race than the officer responding.

God bless the victim and his family. Hopefully justice will be served. Kudos to the North Charleston Police Department for responding swiftly and having this criminal arrested and charged with murder.

http://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article15654974.html

The video shown on MSNBC this morning shows the police officer running back to, presumably, the location of the confrontation and picking up a small object, then returning to the body of victim and dropping it next to the body. Some viewers claim they could see the taser points in the victims shirt.

Another passerby... another "story" by the cops... Even more concerning as this one was in NJ.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/07/nj-police-allow-their-dog-to-fatally-maul-a-man.html?source=TDB&via=FB_Page

" in Vineland, New Jersey. A video filmed a week ago Tuesday appears to show local police allowing a K9 dog to tear into the face of what looks to be an unarmed black man while he is curled up on the ground. The man, identified as 32-year-old Phillip White, later died while in police custody."

And this death raises even more questions:

"This is the second death involving police in Cumberland County since last December, when Jeramie Reid was shot and killed by Bridgeton police during a traffic stop after officers allegedly saw a handgun. It was later revealed that Reid was suing the county for allegedly being assaulted by corrections officers while he was in the county jail."

TarheelsInNj said:

And then he planted the taser (or appeared to). That was pretty much the exact plot in a recent episode of Scandal. The element of obviously planting evidence seemed a little extreme to me then... Incredible episode, btw, and worth watching even if you're not usually a fan.

and cops know they get the benefit of the doubt - they know they can get away with these crimes, theres no ethics there, its purely cover your ass and standard operating procedure. Just note the cops who cover their badge numbers during protest "work" or all the cops who turn off their recording equipment just in time to not see what it is they did.

The state of affairs where civilians consider cops to be the good guys is a falsehood. They are not good guys, they are humans, prone to the same temptations we all are who are entrenched in a corrupt system where they protect each other to the expense of actual justice.

Yes there are good and ethical police, and I hope thats the majority, but these police are militarized and they all know that to make waves is career ending, so they remain silent.

I don't understand the impulse to kill people while wearing a police uniform. I am deeply troubled.

Tom_Reingold said:

I don't understand the impulse to kill people while wearing a police uniform. I am deeply troubled.

I think many officers are trained to use potentially deadly force in a wide range of situations. All training programs needs to be revamped.

Man, what a sickening video. Shoots eight times, and then actually handcuffs the guy as he's either dying or already dead.
Thank god for technology and citizen journalists.

I agree that it's good that technology was available here. But... could all of this recent news and controversy and the idea and that they're being "watched" cause a "good" cop to hesitate in trusting his or her judgment and acting as a situation warrants, when perhaps force really is needed? I really don't know the answer here.

Even without a video...how do you posible explain shots into the back? How are you threatened?

The story before the Video. Look at how the "news" refers to the police officer, based solely on his account and without asking further questions:

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150406/PC16/150409558/1268/north-charleston-police-say-officer-who-fatally-shot-man-pulled-him-over-because-of-brake-light&source=RSS

I also love this statement: "SLED spokesman Thom Berry said prosecutors also would have to review the recordings and be “agreeable and amenable” to their release."

And probably why the cameraman and the family went to the news rather than the Police Department or the prosecutor. Good for them. I wonder if once the body cameras are installed, if the footage will be consider "agreeable and amenable" in situations such as this. One can only hope that pressure will mount and footage will be released if it does not disappear first.

hoops said:

tjohn said:

It is good that somebody caught the incident on video. However, given that Mr. Scott was shot in the back 8 times and given the intensified focus on police shootings, I like to think that a grand jury would have charged Officer Slager with murder.

According to dailykos contributor Shaun King there were 111 police killings of civilians in March. That number was greater than the total number of police killings of civilians in the UK since 1900.

Unfortunately these killings are the normal in America.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/01/1374908/-American-police-killed-more-people-in-March-111-than-in-the-entire-United-Kingdom-since-1900

http://www.killedbypolice.net/

This is just plain crazy.

Student_Council said:

Man, what a sickening video. Shoots eight times, and then actually handcuffs the guy as he's either dying or already dead.
Thank god for technology and citizen journalists.

The officer, and later a second officer seem to hover over Walter Scott for several minutes. Probably trying to figure out what to do. I can't help but wonder if Walter Scott's life might have been saved if they moved more swiftly to call paramedics.

If the person who shot the video is a local resident of Charleston SC he/she will most likely have to move. Without that video I don't think the case would have stood a chance.

the_18th_letter said:

If the person who shot the video is a local resident of Charleston SC he/she will most likely have to move. Without that video I don't think the case would have stood a chance.

This seems to be true. The police incident report prior to the surfacing of the video shows the manufactured story that would have most likely gotten the cop completely off the hook.

....

"..A statement released by North Charleston police spokesman Spencer Pryor said a man ran on foot from the traffic stop and an officer deployed his department-issued Taser in an attempt to stop him.
That did not work, police said, and an altercation ensued as the men struggled over the device. Police allege that during the struggle the man gained control of the Taser and attempted to use it against the officer.

The officer then resorted to his service weapon and shot him, police alleged..."

By Sunday, the police department had clammed up and refused to release any additional information about the events.

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150404/PC16/150409635

Isn't that pretty similar to the narrative offered in the Michael Brown case? That he was grabbing for the officer's gun? Maybe they thought here that it would be a slam-dunk to explain away.

MutherF*cker.

Much like with the big banks, I expect no institutional change to come from this.

Red_Barchetta said:

MutherF*cker.

Much like with the big banks, I expect no institutional change to come from this.

Just the fact that the cop is arrested, possibly for murder, and if found guilty could face the death penalty, marks a change in the system.

springgreen2 said:

Red_Barchetta said:

MutherF*cker.

Much like with the big banks, I expect no institutional change to come from this.

Just the fact that the cop is arrested, possibly for murder, and if found guilty could face the death penalty, marks a change in the system.

If found guilty... that is a big if.

http://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article15654974.html

"Looking beyond the five-year period examined, those in S.C. law enforcement will tell you anecdotally that a handful of officers have been charged criminally during the past couple of decades. But when their cases go to juries, the allegations almost always are dismissed, jurors deadlock or officers are acquitted."