Just A Reminder
Please Don't Forget
To Donate To FR
This Quarter
Sponsoring FReepers are contributing
$10 Each time a New Monthly Donor signs up!
Get more bang for your FR buck!
Click Here To Sign Up Now!
Posted on 04/14/2015 5:58:20 PM PDT by IChing
In the very first media reports of the shooting by South Carolina officer Michael Slager of Walter Scott the North Charleston police were quoted as follows (Saturday April 4th):
FIRST MEDIA 4/4/15 […] Police in a matter of hours declared the occurrence at the corner of Remount and Craig roads a traffic stop gone wrong, alleging the dead man fought with an officer over his Taser before deadly force was employed.
[…] A statement released by North Charleston police spokesman Spencer Pryor said a man ran on foot from the traffic stop and an officer deployed his department-issued Taser in an attempt to stop him.
That did not work, police said, and an altercation ensued as the men struggled over the device. Police allege that during the struggle the man gained control of the Taser and attempted to use it against the officer. The officer then resorted to his service weapon and shot him, police alleged. (link)
A video containing part of the confrontation surfaced when eye-witness Feidin Santana contacted the family of Walter Scott the following day (Sunday); and then gave the video to South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) on Monday.
Officer Slager was arrested later Monday afternoon and charged with Murder before witness Santana was even interviewed.
The actual public display of the video began on Tuesday April 7th. With the immediate media storyline stating the original police statements were “false” and/or “factually inaccurate”.
The story became about “lying police”, and that specific narrative framed the media discussion for the next week. Even normally level-headed media punditry jumped into the PC fray for their pound of flesh shouting that Officer Slager falsified his statement(s).
However, with time, further careful research, and much closer looks at the video itself, it appears that nothing initially stated by South Carolina LEO, or more specifically Officer Michael Slager is false or incorrect. [zoomed taser video by Bob]
So you think acknowledging the cop may have been wrong automatically means it was murder? Wow such sagacity here
Sorry, was posting on my phone, thought I was responding to Tamzee (who I was originally responding to, and who most certainly has said that Scott succeeded in shooting Slager with the taser).
Golly, what does “duty to do” mean? Is doing the same as acting, doctor genius?
I could be wrong, Conscience, but I think the SLED (some say it is a political body) are only releasing some of the reports, those favorable to keeping the crowds calm.
I am not sure why they won’t release Slager’s, unless it is an attempt to assuage any blowback from that particular community.
Hope I am wrong, but it could appear that they are holding back stuff that might hurt the “case” against Slager. I say again, I hope I am wrong, and there are other reasons that better serve justice for all, including Slager.
The issue is whether or not deadly force was warranted.
Which photograph better represents that decision point, yours or mine?
Not exactly. Although generally police do not have a legal duty to act under federal law, some states have state laws punishing officers who do not act. For example, in DC an officer can be charged with Failure to Take Police Action, a misdemeanor.
Additionally, when a judge issues a warrant, officers are generally commanded by the warrant to seize the person wherever the officer may find him.
My question is ........
“When did it become okay to disobey law enforcement?”
—
One area where I would like to see individuals or families not have the right to sue is when they put innocent lives in danger — especially high speed chases.
I am not saying the officer would be innocent. I just don’t like the idea of criminals suing when their breaking the law. Whatever happens to them, ..... happens.
My photo better illustrates why he is charged with murder, in yours, he isn’t even killing anyone yet, he is just watching a 55 year old man run away.
Nonsense.
Once the decision to use deadly force is made, the number of shots taken is not a factor.
Someone mentioned number of shots?
The issue is that the cop decided to kill the man running from him, that is why the police charged him with murder.
See post 2 for what this is about.
The decision to shoot and whether it has a legal basis is what matters in this case, not what the result of that decision looks like to the untrained eye.
How many shots do you think were fired prior to the still frame you posted was taken?
The trained eye of the police led them to charge the cop with murder and fire him, when they saw the video.
Let me guess, you think it is a good shooting?
The decision to charge officer Slager was made by a SC State Attorney not the local police and the decision to charge murder seems more politically expedient than legally justified.
As for whether or not it was a ‘good’ shooting, time will tell...but it certainly wasn’t the cold blooded execution you’re trying to portray.
The video caught him out, but sled was already suspicious.
He sure worked over the crime scene after murdering the man.
You must be high.
I promise you I'd have shot him in the same situation and "threat to others' is sufficient to justify a police shooting.
PS, I promise that, having a very spotty history with them, I'm not used to building alibis for police.
But I wouldn't start a fight over a traffic ticket either.
A taser is a one time fire device. The Taser was successfully deployed against the dead man, the darts were still in his clothes. There is no way that the Officer could have been shot with his own taser if Williams had also been shot. We know for sure that Williams was shot. All the hype about the officer being incapacitated because he was shot with his own taser is wrong and simply an impossibility and just wishful thinking for those who think the cop is always right.
I am not saying anything good about the deadbeat dad who was murdered, but, he was murdered without proper justification. There is simply too much of this murder by cop going around. It is high time a cop is finally charged for his murder. If society does not start holding cops accountable for their actions there will only be more and more of this cop murdering happening.
I said Williams above but it was Walter Scott, it is late.
Absolute nonsense. Have you lost your mind? If that was a justified shooting, then there's no such thing as an unjustified shooting. At the time the officer shot the man in the back several times, he was no threat to the officer or anybody else.
Juries, when trying such cases, often apply a standard of what a reasonable person would do in the same situation. I just don't see how the officer is going to make the case that he was reasonably in fear for his life, or that the public was in danger.
Q. How often do cops get fired by their departments and charged with murder for shooting someone?
A. Once in a blue moon.
And yet the State of South Carolina has, after reviewing the evidence, seen fit to charge this officer with murder. He also tried to plant evidence, and should be additionally charged with evidence tampering, obstruction of justice, and so on.
IMHO, the shooting was not justified, and in view of that fact, this former police officer is going to go to prison for manslaughter at the very least.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.