Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

He really is that stupid.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

We still have time to mess this up!

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

This blog will pay for itself.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Racial Justice / This Week In Blackness / The Sad Case of Walter Scott

The Sad Case of Walter Scott

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In what feels like a never-ending list of dead unarmed black men, at least one cop will possibly be brought to justice in the case of Walter Scott. The South Carolina man, who was shot eight times in back, was fleeing from police officer Michael Slager. While the officer alleged that Scott grabbed the officer’s Taser, bystander video shows a very different story. The officer is being charged with murder.

“When you’re wrong, you’re wrong,” Mayor Keith Summey said during the news conference. “And if you make a bad decision, don’t care if you’re behind the shield or just a citizen on the street, you have to live by that decision.”

Team Blackness discussed Michelle’s Obama’s practical view of her daughters’ image, Iggy Azalea, and the guilty verdict on 30 counts of the Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

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31Comments

  1. 1.

    Elizabelle

    The only good thing so far is this may have woken up some folks who like to believe the shootee always had it coming.

    I think enterprising journalists might start taking a look at some of the past shootings with fresh eyes, too. ETA: I’d love to see alternative papers around the country take a stab at this story. Maybe collaboratively.

    And whoever makes police body cameras is going to make a fortune. There’s your investment tip for the day.

  2. 2.

    srv

    Thinkprogress covers the progress in St. Louis

    Missouri has the second-highest rate of traffic cases per person in the nation, and St. Louis County’s rate is twice as high as Missouri’s. According to Brendan Roediger, an assistant professor at St. Louis University School of Law, there are more than 450,000 outstanding warrants in the St. Louis County for municipal cases. In some jurisdictions, the number of warrants well exceeds the number of residents: Country Club Hills, for example, has a population of 1,381 and more than 33,102 active warrants, amounting to a ratio of nearly 24 outstanding warrants per resident.

    Country Clubs are always the problem.

  3. 3.

    Brutusettu

    @Elizabelle: What makes it worse.

    Scott was pulled over for “a” broken brake-light.
    As long as there is at least one working brake-light, it is not a traffic violation in South Carolina.
    Scott had at least one working brake-light. The dashcam that was released doesn’t show the passenger side brake-light, that one may have been working too.
    Scott pulled into an auto repair store’s parking lot.
    The shooter, allegedly, had another instance of illegally entering a house of interest and using excessive force on a random black male therein while searching for some other person that was drastically shorter.

  4. 4.

    mai naem mobile

    @srv: i was listening to Diane Rehm. They mentioned that the first issue in front of the new city council is how to make up for the revenue lost from their revenue raising ticket program they had going. This is what happens when you keep on cutting taxes and then don’t have funds for basic government functions.
    As far as Walter Scott, Slager did the planting of the evidence so non-chalantly that I have to believe he’s done it before. I’m sorry, but if I was trying to cover up a major screw up at work, I would be acting very nervous, certainly not the way Slager was acting.

  5. 5.

    Cacti

    Even with such damning evidence against Officer Slager, I’m deeply skeptical that a South Carolina jury will convict a white cop for the shooting death of black man.

  6. 6.

    Cacti

    @mai naem mobile:

    Slager did the planting of the evidence so non-chalantly that I have to believe he’s done it before. I’m sorry, but if I was trying to cover up a major screw up at work, I would be acting very nervous, certainly not the way Slager was acting.

    This times eleventy billion.

    The practiced ease with which Slager plants evidence on the corpse of the man he just gunned down is positively bone chilling. You can tell he’s done it before, and wonder how many people of color have been victim to his brand of “law enforcement”.

  8. 8.

    gvg

    What is most interesting to me is the mayor. Simple, direct and handling it well IMO. Body cams immediately announced after problem proved.
    I know the officer was fired quickly. Was that the police chief or the cops immediate supervisors, or did the mayor and maybe others have to put pressure on?
    Body cams were announced so fast that I even wonder if the mayor already had suspicions and wanted them before this happened.
    This town probably won’t have riots. This town won’t need elections to throw at least some of them out-remains to be seen about all the authorities.
    Contrast that with do nothing Govenors of other states and Lying councils plus provoking police spokesmen in the 2 other recent events of this type. This is why leadership matters. Surprising given SC reputation.

  9. 9.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    Even with such damning evidence against Officer Slager, I’m deeply skeptical that a South Carolina jury will convict a white cop for the shooting death of black man.

    @Cacti: I’ll take that bet and raise you: he will walk. Absolutely. And he’ll work again as a cop, but not in that department, as they seem to have a chief who thinks that “shooting anyone I feel like” is not always acceptable police practice. Good for him, although he’ll probably lose the next election over it.

    If you want anything to happen to this guy at all, hope the Feds get involved. At least maybe a civil rights violation can be had.

  10. 10.

    Pogonip

    @Brutusettu: I think the unfortunate Mr. Scott was driving an expensive car, if I remember right, so most likely what he was REALLY pulled over for was “first-degree causing suspicion in cop.”. And even if the cop had been correct and Scott had had a carload of crack, that still does not justify the shooting.

  11. 11.

    Elizabelle

    @gvg: More on Mayor R. Keith Summey, from the LA Times. Leadership makes a difference.

    [Councilwoman Dorothy “Dot” Williams] praises the white, Republican mayor, Keith Summey. “Let me tell you something,” she said. “Keith Summey is one of the kindest, best men I know. He loves black residents and would do anything for them.”

    Summey regularly shows up at black churches — at Royal Baptist, Charity Baptist and Mt. Moriah Baptist — because he prefers “the old-time, kick-down music.”

    He once hit 340 pounds, then underwent gastric bypass surgery and went on a diet.

    But Williams said his love of soul food has held him back.

    “He sneaks over to the black restaurants behind his wife’s back,” she said, laughing. “But that’s just Mayor Summey. Everybody knows it.”

    He has been mayor for 20 years, and remained popular even after the devastating economic blow of the Charleston Naval Base’s closure.

    It was Summey who announced Tuesday that Slager, who was fired from the police force, would face a murder charge.

    “When you’re wrong, you’re wrong,” Summey told reporters. “When you make a bad decision, don’t care if you’re behind the shield or a citizen on the street, you have to live with that decision.”

    When Summey stepped in to absorb heated questions aimed at the police chief, Eddie Driggers, a crowd of protesters didn’t want the mayor’s political hide. “We want Driggers! We want Driggers!” they chanted.

    Their point was clear: The racial problems in the city stem from the police.

    And this point is not exclusive to North Charleston.

    Good backgrounder on North Charleston. Worth a click and read.

  12. 12.

    Kropadope

    Vox Headline:

    Sean Hannity said there’s no justification for the police shooting of Walter Scott

    Left unsaid:

    Believe me, we tried

  13. 13.

    Elizabelle

    @Pogonip: Yup. Black man driving a Mercedes. Officer gets curious. Driver says he’s test driving the car, thus does not have registration. And then flees, eventually. Brother says it’s because Mr. Scott was afraid of being jailed for back child support.

    Slager might think he’s caught himself a car thief. Which is not a capital offense. But he guns the escaping guy down in cold blood anyway.

  15. 15.

    Elizabelle

    More from that LA Times story on North Charleston:

    To many black residents, the overt hatred and segregation that ruled this place during the Jim Crow era has morphed into something more insidious: the routine traffic stop.

    Councilwoman Dorothy “Dot” Williams, who has been serving for 24 years, said she gets the same recurring complaint from constituents. They were pulled over for not signaling, for a registration tag that wasn’t visible or for a broken taillight — then asked to consent to a search.

    “Then it escalates,” said Williams, 68. “If you say no, they arrest you for disorderly conduct, or worse.”

    …. Civil rights leaders have cited several recent cases in which black men were shot and killed in confrontations with police around the state.

    On June 20, Denzel Curnell, 19, died during a struggle with a Charleston police officer who said he questioned Curnell because Curnell was wearing a hoodie in 85-degree heat — a sign that he planned criminal activity, the officer said.

    Police ruled that Curnell shot and killed himself with his own gun during the struggle — an account the family challenges.

    In Columbia, S.C., dashboard video led to the firing and prosecution of state Trooper Sean M. Groubert.

    On Sept. 4, Groubert stopped Edward Levar Jones, 35, as he got out of his SUV in front of a convenience store.

    “Can I see your license please?” Groubert asked.

    Jones leaned into his Dodge Durango to grab it, when Groubert, 31, began screaming, “Get out of the car! Get out of the car!”

    The officer fired at least four shots at Jones, who raised his hands as he stepped backward.

    “I just got my license! You said get my license!” Jones said on the ground, wounded. “I got my license, right here. That’s my license.”

    Jones was treated for a gunshot wound to the hip at a hospital and released.

    Fifteen days later, Groubert was fired and charged with felony assault and battery “of a high and aggravated nature.”

    He is awaiting trial. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of all charges.

  16. 16.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    As other people pointed out when the NY Times story first ran, the fact that the cop’s story fit a very common pattern (suspect tried to grab his Taser/gun/belt, officer fired during/after the struggle) really ought to make people more skeptical of that story since it’s the same one we hear over and over again after these shootings. I hope it will make people more skeptical, but people will usually believe what they want to believe.

  17. 17.

    Elizabelle

    Body cams and dashboard cameras might lead to a lot more settlements with and lawsuits against police, money currently paid by the municipality. Might get expensive.

    I wonder if city managers and insurers and the political leadership might reign in the police.

    Guest blogger Jaeah Lee, at Kevin Drum’s blog, with current post and link to an earlier article Lee did for Mother Jones. Even if Walter Scott’s Family Wins in Court, the Cop Won’t Pay a Dime.

  18. 18.

    Punchy

    @Cacti: THIS. A jury to convict a white cop for kililng a running black man does not exist, certainly not in SC. My best guess is they’ll instead vote to convict him of meritous behavior and grant him a Purple Heart.

  21. 21.

    Archon

    @Punchy:

    I have to believe that in 2015 even white jurors in South Carolina would look at that video and say that was an unlawful shooting of an unarmed citizen.

    I have to believe that….

  25. 25.

    Elizabelle

    It may just take one bad juror, but must we be so gloomy about getting no justice? Do you think that mayor or council, or even the residents, wants to see that town blow up?

  28. 28.

    Starfish

    @Waldo: One of the jury selection questions often has to do with how you feel about police. I am sure that being skeptical of police testimony or just having negative views on the police would get you eliminated.

  29. 29.

    gvg

    My aunt watched an interview of a Rodney King juror afterwards. She said the defense strategy had evidently been pick morons for jurors and eliminate anyone with normal brains. The juror watched the beating in frame by frame progression instead of in motion and got the impression that the cops did not actually strike King since their hands always stopped! Said juror really was that stupid.
    I found out afterwards that really is one strategy some lawyers use. I am certain some scientist types don’t get picked for certain types of trials.

  30. 30.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @gvg: Remember that it’s not always possible to exclude the smart people. “Jury selection” is a misnomer – lawyers unselect a jury from the venire that’s sent to the courtroom. From that group, a smaller group is put in the jury box, and each side is allotted a predetermined number of peremptory challenges – permitted for no announced reason. The number varies by jurisdiction and they are exercised in response to answers to questions posed to potential jurors.

    There are also an unlimited number of challenges for cause, but those are more difficult to use, and are generally available only when someone admits they cannot be fair. Potential jurors who are unavailable for the projected length of the trial are excused by the court (within reason; generously granted for a trial expected to be lengthy).

    IOW, lawyers can dismiss potential jurors suspected to vote unfavorably in a pretty limited fashion. The name of the process is misleading.

  31. 31.

    Steve

    Some shootees have it coming, some don’t. Michael brown did. It seems this poor soul did not.

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