He never would have come forward until he read the police reports and saw that they were lying. He then went to the cops and when he realized they were starting to believe he actually did have a tape of the shooting, he became fearful for his life. At the police station. From the police. And I’d suggest with good reason.
America, fuck yeah.
We need to get this guy some money to pay for his lawyer and for whatever police run-ins he will inevitably have in his future, not to mention the smear campaign the usual suspects will wage on him. Because you know that is going to happen.
Justin
He deserves a medal.
mai naem mobile
Yes on the GoFund. He’s going to need it for security – I’m talking physical security not financial.
danielx
Waiting for Michelle Malkin, Rush Limbaugh, et al, to release the flying monkeys….
Mike G
He’ll be “granite countertopped” any day now.
If I were him I would have distributed a few copies of the video around to media and lawyers before taking it to the cops, so there wouldn’t be any incentive to try to silence him or bury the evidence. Sad to have to think this way, but it appears this country has gone from rule of law to being ruled over by lawmen.
srv
Move him eleventy billion miles from SC
Mnemosyne (tablet)
Is this one of the reports that includes the full shooting video? I’m interested to hear what the guy has to say, but not at the price of watching a snuff video.
rikyrah
You are so right, Cole.
Betty Cracker
I’m in. He’s a brave man.
Suzanne
Seriously. He needs witness protection, and he’s not even a witness yet.
jl
@Mnemosyne (tablet): not sure it has the full video, but you see the guy fall down after being shot.
You could just listen to it.
lamh36
@Mnemosyne (tablet): I believe it has a slit screen if it’s the bit I saw on Chris Hayes
Tommy
I’d throw the guy some money so he could move. As for a lawyer, I have to think his phone might be ringing off the hook of quality, liberal lawyers that will work for him pro bono for all the free publicity they will get.
As I said in the last thread I am not so sure I would have come forward. As was said above:
I think I could handle the police, I live a pretty “clean” and lawful life. I could not handle the above folks slamming me 24/7 on TV, the Internet, and in print.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne (tablet): It opens with that video, but if you make it to 1:19, the interview with the guy who recorded the video starts. I covered my eyes – as I said on the other thread, I got caught off guard in the shorter interview when they switched to the video of the murder, so I was smart enough to cover my eyes this time.
I don’t know if they will show the shooting again. Will let you know as I watch the interview.
edit: they are showing the shooting video again, so I’m guessing it will be shown over and over. I am just going to listen to the interview.
Cermet
But 9-11; see, we give up all our rights, live under real terrorist called cops and the NSA but we are then partly protected from the 0.00000001% chance of dying by the hand of a brown skin Arab. So worth it for right wing pants shitting thugs and the weak kneed middle class demorats who follow them. What a stupid group of morons the amerikan middle class and lower middle class has become. god and guns is all they’ll soon have and watch once the 0.0001% get all the power, then a strong campaign against guns will be instituted in the not too distant future, as well.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@jl:
@lamh36:
@WaterGirl:
Maybe I’ll just scroll the picture up and listen to it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very glad this witness was there to shoot the video, but whatever happened to news shows warning you about “strong content” before they show you a man being murdered onscreen?
Tommy
@WaterGirl: I’ve seen many videos online I wish I could unsee. Much more graphic then this video. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but there is something about this video that just freaks me out. Tugs at my heart in a way those much more graphic videos did not. We are just killing our fellow citizens and I am happy it seems many are pretty mad about it.
Davebo
Sadly the video won’t load
lamh36
I’ve never given anything to Go Fund Me or any of the crowd sourcing things, but this is one I can def get behind. As I said, I believe the young man is a Dominican national, and you can certainly expect the usual anti-immigration, cop-does-no-wrong RWNJ to harass this guy.
I was planning on staying home from work tomorrow, but I may just head on in. If the release of that 2nd video allegedly from the officer’s dashcam comes out and it doesn’t gel with the NYT video, the shit will hit the fan, and I’d rather not even be near a tv.
As I said in previous thread, I remember how the Ferguson PD selectively leaked footage of the “cigarillo” incident with Mike Brown and they had been sitting on the video for some time. But when “tide” was uncertain for them, then bam the video was released.
The murder charge and firing came AFTER this first video. So hopefully that means that even if the dash cam vid shows a “struggle” or something, NYT video is just so damning, that even with it in evidence, they STILL charged him with murder.
I just believe in my gut, that if not for the NYT video, the dash cam vid if enough to support officer account, would have been selectively leaked to sully public sentiment.
I hope I’m wrong.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne (tablet): They cut to the shooting video over and over and over again, with no warning. That’s just wrong.
lamh36
@Mnemosyne (tablet): well, all the news places I saw did advise of strong content. but for the video snippets, maybe that was cut out?
Tommy
@Cermet: I often mention here my brother married into this huge family. All way, way right. We are also less than 50 miles from Ferguson, MO. At X-mas the topic came up and I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was when pretty much everybody said Michael Brown got what he deserved.
I know who these people are so I normally don’t lose my temper. But I had to leave the room and go for a walk or otherwise I would have just gone postal on them (verbally BTW). That we could be so far apart on something that is so clear to me, a cop emptying a clip into somebody that isn’t armed, should piss off everybody, liberal or conservative.
NotMax
@Mnemosyne
Heard multiple clear and concise content warnings preceding the video being shown yesterday.
Today, it’s presumed people know what it is about.
Perhaps too soon to not still have a short warning. Eventually, it will be like the Zapruder film, which nearly never is preceded by a warning as people know what the content is.
NotMax
@Tommy
Based upon your astonishment, no, no you don’t. Not in any more than a cursory fashion, at any rate.
Tommy
@lamh36: This interview is amazing. He is Dominican. Towards the end of the first interview in the above clip he said that his nation looks up to the US. Respects and wants to be more like us. He goes on to say this isn’t supposed to happen here. That cops shouldn’t abuse their power.
All I can say is you go dude!
WaterGirl
This young man knew exactly the risk he was taking when he gave the video to the NYT and he still did it. That’s brave.
I wasn’t sure at first, but it seems to me now that it was smart of him to be interviewed on camera. His face is out there, his name is out there, and we can all see that he’s just a good guy who put himself in the shoes of the family who just lost their son/brother and is trying to do the right thing.
I am hoping that will prevent some of the smears and attacks that we all fear are coming.
Tommy
@NotMax: I could/would argue with you but if I ponder things for more than a few seconds you are most likely right. I just feel we could disagree on tax policy, the ACA, but how can we disagree on an unarmed teen being shot multiple times not being OK. Really not OK. It just goes to show the level of disagreement between us is so vast I am not sure how we can ever bridge it.
Lavocat
We need more people like him, willing to stand up and call bullshit on The System.
Tommy
@Lavocat: Amen. Plus he is an informed citizen. I love the part of the interview where he said he read the police report. The reporter is like “you read the police report?” He said yes and it didn’t reflect what he saw and that, along with the man’s family needed to know what happened, was why he released the video. I don’t use the word hero very often, that guy is a hero.
300baud
So in. I’ve got $100 for him for starters, and more as his lawyers need. If it happens, please make it a separate main-page post.
Mike in NC
Cops will bust his door down in the middle of the night and shoot him/his family/his dog and claim it was all a case of a drug bust gone wrong. Mistakes were made. Happens every day.
ruemara
He needs to be smuggled out of the damned country. I’m only slightly joking. At this point, I’d like to get refugee asylum visa to New Zealand.
In a slightly OT thing, a friend who I normally respect, has been on a tear about TPP. But when they refer to the Religious Freedom to Discriminate laws as petty squabbles unworthy of our attention, i do wonder if the blindspots of privilege will ever be removed. We’re talking about day to day fights for your freedom to live, with things that affect you in every way, versus a treaty that seems to be very far removed from daily life issues. You can’t alienate people by calling them petty. Some of us look at this latest shooting and don’t see something to be straight up shocked about; we see another one falling in the battles that have been going on for a very long time.
Tommy
One of the things I find interesting about the interview is he is a barber. Says he heard all the talk about the shooting at work. I am a white dude but lived for many years in SE and NE DC. I was usually one of the only white dudes around.
I often went to the local barber to get my head shaved. Weekly.
The culture of a black barber shop is flat out amazing. Where you talk politics. Sports. The story of the day. I so miss that. Heck I think there is a movie or two about it.
I wish I had one by me, so fun and enlighting at the same time. Plus nobody by me, all the barbers, will shave my head with a straight razor. What is up with that?
coin operated
Fscking AP reporter already throwing some controversy into the mix asking about the video’s ‘chain of custody’ before it hit the NYT. Wonder who’s paying this schmuck…
http://news.yahoo.com/video-fatal-sc-police-shooting-may-major-impact-205905248.html
Violet
Haven’t seen this interview but saw Lester Holt’s interview with him on the NBC Nightly News this evening. He seems like such a nice guy but it was clear that English isn’t his first language and immediately I thought of all the immigration checks of him and his family that will no doubt already be underway. Poor guy. I am happy to contribute to any fund for him. He’s a hero.
Arclite
Aw, man. I was really hoping this guy would remain anonymous.
Arclite
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
While I agree in principle, in practice, I’m glad they showed it. America needs to see what is happening, and how horrific and corrupt it is. This can shock complacent people into action.
Arclite
Also, Salon did a decent job of chronicling the transgressions of this police department. Sounds like they could give Ferguson PD a run for their money.
Felanius Kootea
What a brave, brave man. I’d definitely donate to a gofundme for him because I admire what he did and because a world of trouble is coming his way from the right.
Felanius Kootea
By the way, the gofundme for Ramsey Orta (the guy who took the video of Eric Garner’s murder) is here. His bail is $16250. The gofundme goal is $40,000 with $32,000 raised so far. No, he is not a saint, according to police. He was arrested for passing an unloaded gun to someone else and contends that he was arrested in retaliation for filming Garner’s death (the gun was found in his companion’s possession, not on him). We’ll probably find out that Mr. Santana isn’t perfect either. I hope people will still have his back then.
Sherparick
@Tommy: No one leads a completely “clean and lawful life.” Ever go more than 5 miles over the speed limit, roll through a stop sign, have a dispute with a neighbor? If a policeman wants to, he can make any of these events “life changing” for you. If he shoots you while you reach for your wallet or registration, well he has “I thought he was reaching for a gun, I was in fear of my life,” defense, which is a pretty much certain “reasonable doubt” winner in every situation that is not caught on film.
P.S. When the Gofundme site is set up, please link.
otmar
This is so true: http://christopherkeelty.com/surviving-a-police-encounter/
BretH
Might want too check out Photography is not a Crime
Fridaynext
@Sherparick: @Sherparick:
Or as McNulty once said “Baker, Let me let you in on a little secret, The patrolling officer on his beat is the one true dictatorship in America, we can lock a guy up on the humble, lock him up for real, or say fuck it and drink ourselves to death under the expressway and our side partners will cover us, No one – I mean no one – tells us how to waste our shift!”
Also, it has been estimated that there are so many laws and regulations in the USA at all levels, that all Americans commit three felonies a day. A truly motivated police force backed by a prosecutor can ruin anyone’s life, anywhere, at anytime. Obeying the law 100% is impossible and even if it was no guarantee you won’t have your life wrecked by a cop.
Lee
Looks like the video was pulled for some reason.
Richard Bottoms
Uh, so set it up and publish the address.
hidflect
I was opposed to security cameras and increased public surveillance but I realise cameras are the ultimate impartial observer. THeir unblinking eye exposes crimes that otherwise go unpunished. More street cameras then?
Paul in KY
@WaterGirl: You see the poor man get murdered in the main page of Yahoo. The clip plays in a little box. I don’t think they should show it there.
sharl
This ain’t a bad idea at all.
But if and when this happens, it would be well to not forget that the devil is in the details. I’m thinking specifically of avoiding this idea blowing up in everyone’s faces, especially Mr. Santana’s.
Does the man even have a bank account (credit union account would be preferable IMO, so he doesn’t get reamed by “service” charges)? If he doesn’t have any arrangement with a financial institution, would it be a good idea for him to be carrying around a lot of money on his person? Think of all the things that could go wrong in that latter scenario: garden variety robbery – hopefully without murder, but best to not leave witnesses, ya know! – assets seizure by police (its gotta be drug money, amirite?), possibly with imprisonment (again: gotta be drug money!).
So taking care of this guy would be a noble, just, and worthy endeavor. But taking into account his life situation (which I know nothing of myself) would be a critical aspect of this plan, in order to avoid exposing him to even greater danger.
Patricia Kayden
@Mike G: I believe that’s exactly what he did. He handled this very well.
Gex
@ruemara: Petty squabbles. Christ amighty. Good to know that it is no skin off someone else’s back that I pretty much lost everything after Kate died.
Fuck me.
I have been thinking about how it is pro-religion, pro-gay people who have bought in to “protecting” marriage and “protecting” religious freedom when the haters don’t have enough to get policies passed. My problem is not the people who hate me. There’s nothing to do to change them. My problem is the people who are on my side but can’t be bothered to know the coded words that haters use to attack us but get “allies” to buy in.
I’m once again in a funk after Indiana.
And to bring this back to the topic at hand, I’ve bee thinking about how the original news reports (pre-video) said there were witnesses that corroborated the cop’s story.
And it made me think about how the prosecutor in Ferguson emphasized the witness testimony that corroborated Darren Wilson and questioned the veracity of the witnesses who contradicted him.
And of the 911 caller who claimed John Crawford was waving a gun around, resulting in the cops killing him, only to be contradicted by store video.
And then I thought back to Lawrence v. Texas and how that case started when the gay couple’s neighbor called the cops and said there was someone waving around a gun.
And I am just sick at the way the bigoted cops and bigoted citizens collude to bring state sanctioned violence down on minorities.
I am deeply demoralized right now.