Posted on 04/08/2015 1:06:17 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
The video appears to be damning: a white police officer fatally shooting a black man in the back as he ran away.
The shooting of Walter Scott by North Charleston, S.C., police Officer Thomas Stager has generated national outrage. Stager has been fired and charged with murder.
Legal and police tactics experts said the video would be powerful evidence in the criminal case. But they say it still leaves Stager’s defense with options.
One likely defense focus will be what is not on the video. The interaction between Scott and Stager before the shooting is not seen, nor is the traffic stop that began the incident. Defense attorneys will probably push on this, the experts said, telling jurors that the video doesn’t tell the whole story.
“What was the conversation and interaction between the officer and the subject?” said retired Los Angeles police Capt. Greg Meyer. “Why did the subject run away?”
(Excerpt) Read more at touch.latimes.com ...
I'm wondering how often does it happen.
This is the first I can remember.
Yea but how do you really feel?
I feel like punching a race-baiting Progressive in the face.
If you can make a stretch like that, you belong in the NBA
Didn’t the cop lie his ass off about what happened? If so, whatever he says happened before the video is going to be suspect.
The voice of reason! You are correct...they let the inmates out of the asylum this afternoon and several of them found a computer.
He was seen. The officer looked right at him.
There is that moment in the video where the camera focuses away for the dead guy and on the cops.
At that moment, we do not know what the dead guy did with his weapon.
Maybe the dead uh got up, handcuffs and all and ditched the gun in a nearby lake.
The thirteenth through eighteenth words in my post read, "I don't think that applies here".
You introduced something that was irrelevant, for no reason, your fleeing felon claim does not apply here.
“Wonder if I’m any relation to Ranger Ware?”
If you were from Texas you probably would be. Check out
Captain William Ware for a hint at why I brought up the
wetback thing.
“You DON’T shoot someone in the back. ESPECIALLY someone who is running AWAY.”
“If he had a gun and was shooting @ the officer, I might have a different opinion.”
So in some cases you do shoot someone in the back. It was
the absolute conclusiveness of the statement I was disagreeing with not what happened in this particular case.
The dware part was a particular case in my own linage.
Ranger Sergeant Richard (Dick) Ware.
Those 50 year old fat guys are real hard to run down for a 33 year old LEO.
You must miss the good old days when Himmler really knew how to run a police force.
Or we could measure the distance from the cop shooting and the victim falling as shown in the video.
Yes he said the guy had his taser. The video shows he dropped his taser, shot the guy then went back and got his taser. Then he dropped it on the guy.
“Right! No possibility that there is a child in the yard that the guy is running toward, no possibility that he had a knife, no...wait, you have seen it all and have decided.”
Even if the defense can come up with a plausible justification for shooting the man in the back, there’s no excuse for planting the taser or for lying about performing CPR. None. The coverup points to guilt. Just for that, I wouldn’t believe a damn thing that this cop said. He’s a proven liar.
I do not see this as a case of a cop ‘killing a black man’. I see this as a cop ‘killing a citizen’. I’m a citizen. My kids and husband are citizens. It’s the job of the police to enforce the law - not break it. With their position of power, it’s vital that they are held accountable for abuse against us citizens.
I miss the days when folks were not as stupid as the group of cop-haters around here are...
Well, you and your husband and kids just strut around proud of your perfection...the rest of the adults will try and keep your little family safe...unless you would like to step up and go out there in the line of fire. No? Of course not.
At this point it's all about trying to get this down to a manslaughter plea, and they can probably get there. This stupid, stupid cop, wife's home pregnant, and he pulls this stunt.
My dad was a cop and my husband is a soldier. I worked the projects in Baltimore in the 90’s. Trust me. I know.
But I have a clear sense of right vs wrong.
Let me ask you this: Why aren’t you playing devil’s advocate with the people who get shot or beaten to a bloody pulp?
I fully understand that there are bad apples in every group and I do believe that we’re dealing with bad apple cops in situations like this. But why are the ‘good’ cops defending the bad ones? Lying for them? Helping them cover up their misdeeds? Why are we seeing more and more videos of multiple cops participating in beat-downs as a unit - long after the subject is subdued?
And cops are citizens, too. They should be held accountable, just as we are.
Now, for all of you hypothetical theories about why this officer may have behaved the way he did, please address the following:
1. Why was nothing like this in the officer’s statement?
2. Why did he plant the taser near the body?
3. Why did he lie about performing CPR?
You’re trying to hard to defend this guy, but HE said that the guy wrestled his taser away from him and HE said that he felt that his life was in danger. HE said the he performed CPR.
That’s all he said. He didn’t say that the man might be running to a child or that he thought the guy had a knife or a gun or anything like that. And he had his chance.
But we see him dropping the taser near the body and never trying to save the man.
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