# South Carolina police officer charged with murder. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 8, 2015, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087 "2015-04-08T01:36:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/181 "2015-04-09T22:31:10Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I know the intent here is to satirize, but really, this _is_ good advice. A hostile encounter with a police officer is much like stumbling into the path of a mama grizzly fostering its young - it’s unpredictable, dangerous, and potentially deadly. The best thing you can do in the face of that kind of power is _respect_ it. Wow. Just wow. And are we supposed to be okay living in a police state where comparing an encounter with the police is seriously compared to an encounter with a wild predator? Our gun culture is out of control, and the militarization of our police is out of control. I don’t know what the fix to either one is, but…seriously, holy fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/182 "2015-04-09T22:38:38Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > Wow. Just wow. And are we supposed to be okay living in a police state where comparing an encounter with the police is seriously compared to an encounter with a wild predator? Regardless of what we _should_ have, we have to live in the world that _is._ ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/183 "2015-04-09T22:42:45Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Regardless of what we _should_ have, we have to live in the world that _is._ Fair enough, but _ **I** _, a middle aged white professional male, am not encountering the same dangerous bear that the victim in this case encountered. And that is a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/184 "2015-04-09T22:45:15Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > Wow. Just wow. And are we supposed to be okay living in a police state where comparing an encounter with the police is seriously compared to an encounter with a wild predator? > > Our gun culture is out of control, and the militarization of our police is out of control. I don’t know what the fix to either one is, but…seriously, holy fuck. Make it safer for police by getting guns off the street. Of course that would require serious gun control, which is not going to happen any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/185 "2015-04-09T22:48:58Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > Fair enough, but _ **I** _, a middle aged white professional male, am not encountering the same dangerous bear that the victim in this case encountered. And that is a problem. I’m a middle aged white professional male who ran into and bounced off of a bear, only it wasn’t one of those dangerous ones that carry a badge and a gun, so all was well. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/186 "2015-04-09T22:55:02Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > Fair enough, but _ **I** _, a middle aged white professional male, am not encountering the same dangerous bear that the victim in this case encountered. And that is a problem. Shhh. In other, similar circumstances Smapti has advocated that _your_ treatment be shifted to achieve more equal treatment. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/187 "2015-04-09T23:09:09Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > It will take that, plus serious gun control. > [@Muffin](#): > > The militarization of the police, the submit-or-be-shot and the shoot-first problems are very much a result of the inability of the USA to get guns off the street. Even if the racial aspect is dealt with through social and economic reform, the blood-bath will remain highly disproportionate in comparison to other first world nations, simply because police in the USA face guns far more often than police in other first world nations. > [@Muffin](#): > > Make it safer for police by getting guns off the street. Of course that would require serious gun control, which is not going to happen any time soon. OK, we get it. But it doesn’t really apply in this case. The victim was unarmed. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/188 "2015-04-09T23:24:34Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > OK, we get it. > > But it doesn’t really apply in this case. The victim was unarmed. The killer was armed, though. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/189 "2015-04-09T23:34:45Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > [Feidin Santana](http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/man-who-filmed-walter-scotts-murder-was-terrified-and-still-fears-police): "I felt that my life, with this information, might be in danger. I thought about erasing the video and just getting out of the community, you know Charleston, and living some place else.” > > Kudos to the fellow who videoed the murder and gave the vid to the victim’s family. I hope the local police do not seek retribution. > > The interview at the bottom of the link includes Santana’s description of what he saw before he started videoing. He’ll be in jail within the week. And will languish there for a very very very very very long time. The charge? Oh…gosh…anything they can make up. Since the D.A. will be mighty happy to prosecute this poor fellow and make sure he never speaks freely again. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/190 "2015-04-09T23:43:49Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > You mean the one who pointed a pistol at the cops? A pistol that had been altered to make it look real? Bullshit. No matter how many times you repeat it, that is absolute bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/191 "2015-04-09T23:48:50Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Bullshit. No matter how many times you repeat it, that is absolute bullshit. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/192 "2015-04-09T23:52:26Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > He’ll be in jail within the week. And will languish there for a very very very very very long time. The charge? Oh…gosh…anything they can make up. Since the D.A. will be mighty happy to prosecute this poor fellow and make sure he never speaks freely again. [You mean like the guy who recorded the killing of Eric Garner in New York City, as well as members of his family?](http://www.democracynow.org/2015/4/9/as_video_exposes_walter_scott_police) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/193 "2015-04-10T00:02:35Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > He’ll be in jail within the week. And will languish there for a very very very very very long time. The charge? Oh…gosh…anything they can make up. Since the D.A. will be mighty happy to prosecute this poor fellow and make sure he never speaks freely again. No, this prediction won’t come to pass. You’re wrong. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/194 "2015-04-10T00:17:59Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [You mean like the guy who recorded the killing of Eric Garner in New York City, as well as members of his family?](http://www.democracynow.org/2015/4/9/as_video_exposes_walter_scott_police) _Orta was first arrested on an unrelated gun charge the day after the Staten Island coroner declared Garner’s death to be a homicide. He was later arrested and jailed on a drug charge. His mother, brother and wife have all been arrested too._ Do you have any evidence that Orta’s arrest was NOT based on actual evidence that Orta violated some gun law, or that Orta was NOT involved with drugs, when he was arrested? Something other than a suggestion made by Amy Goodman and Juan González of Democracy Now! ? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/195 "2015-04-10T00:36:43Z")
Listen to what the aunt has to say about the nighttime harassment by the police and the family having to move out of the area. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/196 "2015-04-10T00:51:51Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > This thread is interesting to say the least. You don’t run from cops. You just don’t. Your advice on how to act around cops seems remarkably similar to advice on how to act around enraged bears. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/197 "2015-04-10T01:17:10Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > _Orta was first arrested on an unrelated gun charge the day after the Staten Island coroner declared Garner’s death to be a homicide. He was later arrested and jailed on a drug charge. His mother, brother and wife have all been arrested too._ > > Do you have any evidence that Orta’s arrest was NOT based on actual evidence that Orta violated some gun law, or that Orta was NOT involved with drugs, when he was arrested? > > Something other than a suggestion made by Amy Goodman and Juan González of Democracy Now! ? This. **Rick Kitchen** , I live no more than 2 miles from Riker’s Island as the crow flies. I’ve followed THIS case very closely. Yes, he shot the video. Yes, it sure as shit put him in the NYPD’s crosshairs. But yanno, I’m about as anti-gun a Doper as you will find around here. He was arrested on a legitimate, not planted, illegal gun charge. There is also the drug charge, where there is zero insinuation that the drugs were planted by the cops. Ya fuck around with a gun in NYC? Ya go to jail. Tough titty on him. He’s a felon. The fact that he rolled video on his cell phone that showed the NYPD committing murder doesn’t mean he’s The Archangel Gabriel. It means he rolled video on his cell phone that showed the NYPD committing murder. And nothing more. I always find brother **Bricker** ’s absolute declarations of fact - in the absence of evidence, since his Time Machine is out at the repair shop- to be amusing. My statement was a personal opinion, a fearful one I pray does not come to pass. Not a declaration of fact. Time will tell, **Ricky** , time will tell. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/198 "2015-04-10T01:22:27Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > The militarization of the police, the submit-or-be-shot and the shoot-first problems are very much a result of the inability of the USA to get guns off the street. Even if the racial aspect is dealt with through social and economic reform, the blood-bath will remain highly disproportionate in comparison to other first world nations, simply because police in the USA face guns far more often than police in other first world nations. I don’t think the police culture in the USA will change any time soon, given how entrenched racism, poverty and guns are in the USA. I understand your position, but with thieves with guns around, I want a gun, too. I admit that it is a vicious circle, but I weigh 110 lbs. Even with a baseball bat, I could not fend off[Darryl Dennis.](http://www.arkansasmatters.com/story/d/story/murder-trial-of-darrell-dennis-delayed/15770/ExaPXOln80OyQjI9Plos4A) ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/199 "2015-04-10T07:18:08Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I know the intent here is to satirize, but really, this _is_ good advice. A hostile encounter with a police officer is much like stumbling into the path of a mama grizzly fostering its young - it’s unpredictable, dangerous, and potentially deadly. The best thing you can do in the face of that kind of power is _respect_ it. You guys really do live in a fucked up country. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087/200 "2015-04-10T08:28:46Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Do we _know_ that the cop didn’t say to him, " you better start running, nigger, or I’ll shoot you where you stand"? [Wouldn’t be in keeping with his demeanor at the beginning of the encounter.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYaYdaFFLoQ) The guy gave the cop a story about the car not being his but he was in the process of buying it, often a giveaway that the car is stolen. Then he ran. The cop chased him, yelled at him to get on the ground, and a struggle ensued. The guy was tased, and despite the tasing the guy ran again. Then the cop fired. Now there’s no question Slager shot a fleeing man and was in no apparent danger, although he may well have felt the suspect was armed or might have been armed, and there is no question that he tried to make it look like the taser fell near the fallen suspect. Like most everyone else I originally thought the Slager just flat out executed the guy for no good reason, but upon seeing this video and hearing what transpired off camera, I can see how the Slager may well have felt that the guy was driving a stolen vehicle, was impervious to tasing and desperate to get away, and if armed might well shoot someone in a carjacking attempt or attempt to break into a home and take hostages. Obviously I don’t know this to be the case, but given Slager’s pleasant demeanor at the beginning of the traffic stop and his obvious attempt to subdue and arrest Scott prior to Scott’s trying to get the taser away from him and then fleeing, I have to confess that I’m far less inclined to look at the incident as being the cold-blooded murder it appeared to be at first and to at least entertain the possibility Slager in his own mind was acting more or less in the manner of the officer in [this shooting](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCrQyUQCJS0), which was in the news a few months ago. On the other hand, Slager lied to his superiors and his attorney about the nature of the encounter and he planted the taser near the body to make it look like the confrontation took place there. So he either realized shortly after the shooting that Scott was unarmed and he was likely in a world of shit for shooting an unarmed man and therefore set about to fabricate a more acceptable reason for the shooting, or he really did just callously kill the guy for what looks like nothing more than the hell of it after a five year career that had previously generated only one complaint against him. In any event, I don’t view Slager or the shooting in quite the same way (i.e., unquestionably cold-blooded murder) as I did prior to seeing and hearing the dash cam video. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-police-officer-charged-with-murder/717087.md?page=11)