I’m surprised there isn’t a thread yet about this. Apparently, a North Charleston police officer opened fire on a fleeing (African-American) suspect, hitting him several times in the back, killing him. There happened to be a person nearby filming the encounter and when the tape surfaced, it sharply contradicted the report filed by the officer at the scene.
The cop claimed that the suspect tried to take his stun gun, and he (the cop) feared for his life and that was why he opened fire. In the video, it does look like there is some sort of struggle at the very outset, and something can be seen falling to the ground. After this occurs, the suspect starts to flee and the cop opens fire. After the suspect goes down, the cop runs back to about where whatever had fallen to the ground, picks up what turns out to be the stun gun and can be seen dropping it right near the fallen suspect (basically planting it).
I’m just curious as to everyone’s thoughts on this. My thoughts are that this is yet another example of why video records of police activity need to be required.
Someone altered that video. At the moment the officer dropped something, the video was blurred except for a circle in sharp focus showing the stun gun. If he did plant it, why is the other officer not considered an accomplice?
I’m not acting like police violence is new, it’s the fact that a video of the incident lead to murder charges. That is what is new, or uncommon. Especially as of late, where any sort of police misconduct gets “investigated” by the police themselves and no wrongdoing is ever “uncovered”.
I don’t know if that looks altered to me rather than just a crude, moving video camera held by someone behind a fence and bushing trying to keep pace with the action. But that’s just my take, it could be altered.
And the other police officer was nowhere near the scene when the initial struggle took place, the suspect took off running and the officer shot him in the back. I didn’t see the second officer until the first officer was actually dropping whatever it was that he dropped next to the body.
Even if the suspect did struggle with the officer’s stun gun, it clearly dropped to the ground, away from the suspect and behind the officer. Then the suspect turned and ran. The officer’s report said he “felt in danger of his life”. That video showed otherwise.
How would this ever go to Federal court? You’d have to prove a civil rights violation, which is a high bar. And they can’t force the local DA to “try extra hard”. All he has to do is the absolute bare minimum to avoid being prosecuted himself…and since he’s a lawyer, he knows exACTly what would be that bare minimum.
Shitty prosecutorial work aside, I really don’t see how a defense could overcome the day and night disparity between what the police officer reported-fearing his life due to the suspect taking his stun gun-and what the video clearly and unambiguously shows-the stun gun falling away from the suspect and the suspect turning and running and the cop firing multiple shots in his back.
ETA: And if a prosecutor did “throw” his case and not get a conviction, I think the public uproar would be louder and bigger than anything we’ve seen before.
It does depend on the chain of custody, true. But let’s just say that the video is admissible, if a not-guilty verdict is reached, the national uproar would be intense, not the state reaction.
Why would the prosecutor care? He’s only answerable to his local constituents, as long as he doesn’t run afoul of federal law…and, like I already pointed out, he knows exACTly how to skirt federal laws without actually breaking them. He can and will easily make himself bulletproof, legally-speaking.
Dude, it’s the Deep South. The white people in rural areas and small towns there are fucking scary…and I say that as a white man from the not-so-Deep South. Seriously, I joke not about this.
In this case the local police are not investigating. In S.C. all officer involved shootings are investigated by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division which is a State Bureau of Investigation which is a state’s equivalent of the FBI.
You think getting mad about it will fix it like magic? The FBI murdered Dr. King. His family won a court judgement against the government for his death. How many people at the FBI lost their jobs over that?
Visit the Deep South sometime. Not the regular South, the Deep South. It’s a different world. A scary one.