Posted on 08/05/2010 11:31:21 AM PDT by marktwain
A local author's son was gunned down by police in Las Vegas on July 10, prompting an outcry from residents and a demand for accountability from his family and friends.
West Point graduate Erik Scott, 38, son of Bill Scott, was killed by three cops just outside a Costco store in Las Vegas after a security guard there reported him for carrying a concealed weapon. The weapon was registered, and Erik had the proper permits. Costco doesn't allow weapons in the store, but there's no notice posted, according to Bill Scott.
"It's extremely hard to understand," he says in an interview with the Independent. "You cannot get your brain wrapped around the idea that Erik was shot and killed by the very people he felt allied with. He was always a law-abiding citizen. It's one of those incidents where in the middle of the night you wake up for an instant, and there's something in your brain that says, 'Hit the rewind button. This can't be real.'"
He says police officers made a "rush to judgment" and "murdered [Erik] on the spot" by firing seven rounds, at least five of which hit Erik in the back after he fell. Scott says only 71 seconds elapsed from the time an evacuation was started until the shooting.
"I feel like six or seven of those rounds hit me in the chest, and they blew a massive hole in my heart," Scott told Nevada's 8NewsNow. "If I were a Las Vegas resident, I would want to know the absolute truth about this incident."
Scott, an Air Force engineer turned nonfiction writer and novelist (whose work the Indy profiled in "Imagining World War III," Oct. 29, 2009), lives in the Fox Run area and has been in the Springs since 1994. But he's quickly learned some about Las Vegas policing, namely that in 30 years and more than 200 cases investigated involving police officers there, only one officer has been found at fault.
"They have police investigating police reporting to police," Scott says, adding he hopes the Justice Department will conduct an independent investigation. A coroner's inquest has been postponed indefinitely, pending additional investigation.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, police said Erik Scott refused their orders and drew a handgun and pointed it at them. The newspaper also reported that witnesses disagree about whether Scott drew a gun.
Scott says the case has outraged Vegas citizens, who say they're "scared of their own cops." Erik's "in memory" Facebook page has attracted 920 members, audio clips of the police dispatch recording have accumulated about 1,000 hits on YouTube, and some people have donated money at inmemoryoferikscott.org. The case also has spread to sites such as forbes.com and salon.com.
Between 200 and 300 people, some from as far away as China, came to Erik's memorial service on July 17, and donations have funded five billboards in Las Vegas that say, "Let the TRUTH be known," with a phone number to call with information. Since the billboards went up, five new witnesses have stepped forward, says Scott, who continues to do media interviews.
"It just seems to build more and more," he says.
Erik played high school football in California, was student body vice president and graduated from West Point in the top 10 percent of his class. He earned a master's degree from Duke University and had lived in Las Vegas for 10 years. He worked for Boston Scientific.
"He was a very warm individual, happy," his father says.
Not a word yet on the SECURITY CAMERAS VIDEO.
The LV police Captain had the video shipped off to CALIFORNIA because , even though he doesn’t know if it exists, or if the cameras were on, or were working, or what is on the video, he is sure they can ‘FIX’ it, given eternity to do so.
MY PREDICTION: By the time they get the video back, it will show SCOTT driving a TANK through COSTCO and running over babies in shopping carts.
Bookmark and Costco Ping!
While it's appearing more than likely that law enforcement has made a huge mistake here, I would like to hear a recording of the initial call. I strongly suspect that would answer lots of questions.
Put the hands up & keep em there.
"They have police investigating police reporting to police," Scott says,
That pretty much sums it up and tells us where all this is going.
Scott sounds just like the type of low life scum who would draw a handgun on police officers and cops of course would never lie about what actually happened. /SARC big-time
Why don’t they show the pictures of the Amish bastards who killed him?
I wouldn’t be surprised if it is determined that Scott drew his gun as a trained response to a threat.
The British made the mistake of gunning down innocent Americans. Once.
It could [and should] be argued that the police are the very “standing armies” that the founders were so afraid of... of course there is also the matter of our Active Army too.
Everything I've read about this and the eyewitness accounts suggests otherwise. They would have released the video already if they could show him pulling his gun that way.
Reports I’ve read have the police giving him conflicting orders - among them the order to ‘drop it’. Apparently he had no idea he was the reason for the evacuation. If the gun was in his waistband then he may have been trying to comply with and overly excited cop’s confusing command.
Why no war dance with Jessee Jackson and the “rev” Sharpton?
Oh - I just looked at the picture.
That is the EXACT response advised by Tom Grisham on his radio show “Gun Talk”.
Put your hands up above your head and keep them there until the cops cool down and recognize that you are not a threat. Don’t surrender your rights, but at the same time don’t give them ANY indication that you are reaching for a weapon.
While your hands are above your head and they quit shouting sometimes conflicting orders, wait until they have quieted and then explain that yes you are armed and have the legal right to do so via CCW or in some states, state citizenship.
Never, ever reach below your shoulders until the situation is defused and calmer heads prevail.
Police in many jurisdictions already have an attitude that if they are called to a location for any reason they have the right/duty to shoot someone. If there is a dog present it seems they must discharge that right/duty by shooting the dog. If there is no dog present then maybe one of the kids or mom or dad. I sometimes wonder if it is written in their union contracts.
I doubt there was any mistake.
Can you say “police state?” Kill with impunity, suppress any evidence. FU, citizen.
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