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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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.
srv
Thinkprogress covers the progress in St. Louis
Country Clubs are always the problem.
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.
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.
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.
Cacti
@mai naem mobile:
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”.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: I thought this was interesting:
So… the NYPD Just Broke an NBA Player’s Leg by Dave Zirin
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.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@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.
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.
Elizabelle
@gvg: More on Mayor R. Keith Summey, from the LA Times. Leadership makes a difference.
Good backgrounder on North Charleston. Worth a click and read.
Kropadope
Vox Headline:
Left unsaid:
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.
Amir Khalid
@Pogonip:
It was a Mercedes Benz, but looked to me like an early 1990s model.
Elizabelle
More from that LA Times story on North Charleston:
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.
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.
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.
Pogonip
@Punchy: I’m white and on the basis of that video I’d convict him.
Waldo
@Pogonip: On the basis of video, who wouldn’t have convicted Rodney King’s assailants? Oh, right …
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….
Calouste
@Archon:
Interested in a bridge?
Waldo
@Archon: It’s only going to take one bad juror for this bad cop to walk.
Elizabelle
@Brutusettu: Yes. Pure pretext. It’s tragic.
@WaterGirl: Hmmm. Let’s see how this one plays out.
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?
Fred Fnord
You can bring a cop to justice, but you can’t make them blink.
Waldo
@Elizabelle: Sorry, Pollyanna — gotta call ’em as I see ’em. Hope you are right, though.
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.
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.
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.
Steve
Some shootees have it coming, some don’t. Michael brown did. It seems this poor soul did not.