Another US police shooting

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-32213482
And the officer has been charged with murder. 😯

He claimed he feared for his life when the suspect was 20 yards from him and running away with his back turned (and what looks like empty hands) so he shot him in the back.

WARNING GRAPHIC: Video Shows Fatal Police Shooting In South Carolina: https://youtu.be/kdQwKNfuSiM

If it wasn’t for the video I’m not sure anything would have come from it.

Awful stuff.

Eight shots? Why didn’t the Policeman just chase the guy down if he wanted to arrest him?

Jesus…..

If it wasn’t so appalling that video looks like a terrible teenage media studies version of a shooting. And to cuff on his face a bloke you know is only on the floor because you shot him – what’s that about.

convert – Member
If it wasn’t so appalling that video looks like a terrible teenage media studies version of a shooting. And to cuff on his face a bloke you know is only on the floor because you shot him – what’s that about

No doubt another of their “standard practices”…..

Yup. Same as planting a weapon by the body afterwards.

Shoots an unarmed man in the back. Plants evidence and its all on camera. Still a good chance he won’t spend a single night in jail though

As he’s been now been charged with murder then id say he is now behind bars… pretty grim though, and would certainly suggest that in the original version of events by the police they lied… 😕

The shooting unfolded after Officer Slager stopped the driver of a Mercedes-Benz with a broken taillight, according to police reports.

shot dead for a “blown bulb”

the nyt article

I’ve just checked and South Carolina was the first Southern state to declare secession from the US in a bid to keep black people enslaved, Charleston was where the first shots of the American Civil War were fired.

“South Carolina also was the only Southern state not to harbor pockets of anti-secessionist fervor strong enough to send large amounts of white men to fight for the Union, as every other state in the Confederacy did”

It seems that 150 years later there might still be a need for some work to be done Charleston South Carolina.

See; the NRA was right, if everyone had guns this sort of shit just wouldn’t happen 🙄

Are the Officers observational skills that bad as well? (not to notice or note/acknowledge someone holding a camera/object within their peripheral). Or are they that blasé?

There will be good officers in that force who are tarnished and also now at personal risk due to this incident and officer.

So what does the average American think of it ?

Given its a regular thing and we all find it appalling, how come it keeps happening.

Is it because its acceptable by most people, or is it because those in a position to change it wont change it ?

the NRA was right, if everyone had guns this sort of shit just wouldn’t happen

Well Walter Scott didn’t have a gun, perhaps that was the problem ?

I’m sure that had he, a black man, shot a white police officer and claimed self-defence a jury would have found him innocent.

I’ve noticed that one of the peculiar things about American police shootings always seems to be their standard action after a shooting, even by those arriving when the scene is clearly secured, appears to be to stand around looking confused rather than render first aid (unlike, for example, the immediate aftermath of the mark Duggan shooting in the UK)

This shooting seems to have clearly been murder, shooting an unarmed man running away with no suggestion of immediate threat to life, unlike many of the others that have been in a struggle, or when someone tried to grab an officers gun (I know in two of the recent filmed cases this was clearly the case)

Shock? and/or a combination with “whats going to happen/what to do to get out of this”?

Absolutely terrible. As above I think if this had not been caught on camera we would not be seeing this murder charge.

I do wonder why you would run away from an armed policeman in the US though, you certainly don’t deserve to be shot in the back but its not a low risk move ?

ninfan – Member

This shooting seems to have clearly been murder, shooting an unarmed man running away with no suggestion of immediate threat to life

And with no attempt to try and render first aid or save his life – instead just leaving him cuffed face down.
I’m surprised that they didn’t try and stop the guy filming – they must just have thought that they can get away with this stuff, so what’s the problem.

Police reports say that officers performed CPR and delivered first aid to Mr. Scott. The video shows that for several minutes after the shooting, Mr. Scott remained face down with his hands cuffed behind his back. A second officer arrives, puts on blue medical gloves and attends to Mr. Scott, but is not shown performing CPR. As sirens wail in the background, a third officer later arrives, apparently with a medical kit, but is also not seen performing CPR.

Yeah, as I say, the lack of effective first aid seems to be a pattern (though you can understand being cautious that the threat was over before doing so)

It can’t be an easy job, things can clearly go south very quickly, for example someone unexpectedly lunging at you with a screwdriver would lead to a proper split second decision

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7f4_1426548792

Absolutely terrible reading about this, it just seems unbelievably tragic that a routine traffic stop* ended with someone losing their life in such a needless way. And the thought that this could have gone unchallenged (and does in other cases) were it not for video evidence just leaves a very bad taste in the mouth.

*Is tazer use so normal that you use one to stop someone fleeing a stop for a broken light?

Shock? and/or a combination with “whats going to happen/what to do to get out of this”?

Well the “what to do to get out of this” seems to have been covered off in advance by saying on the radio that he had taken his tazer (when he apparently hadn’t) and then going back to pick ‘something’ up and then dropping it next to the victim.

NYT article did say the ‘something’ couldn’t be identified on the video, but not a lot else it could have been and given all the other damning inconsistencies in the account formt he police that conflicts with the video evidence it’s hard not to draw conclusions.

The lack of first aid is something that struck me to. Almost as though it is an everyday event to shoot someone and let them die.

The guy didn’t die instantly (the officer actually seemed to be a pretty poor shot) and probably could have been saved. Officer could have saved himself being up for murder but I guess he was probably banking on leaving no witness so he could tell his own story.

Only saving grace is there is now someone who shouldnt be a Police officer out of the uniform and off the streets.

No }%}]**^ words for this. I recently saw the video of a group (must be a better collective term, anyone?) of US cops shooting dead a mentally ill homeless man who was camping in the woods. Poor bastard all he had was a carrier bag and a penknife so they gunned him down in a hail of bullets from a distance, like target practice for them. Weirdest thing is that was police footage and they stand behind their actions. Just because the guy was mentally ill, distressed, surrounded by cops with guns he held a penknife in his hand and got dropped like a sack. Sickening. In my work with Special Needs I’ve sometimes had to disarm teenagers safely, one with a steak knife comes to mind. The thought of calling law officials to come and have them killed is so far out in space that I just hate to think what these American police have in their minds day to day. ‘suspect neutralised’

So what does the average American think of it ?

Let’s ask an American – Mrs Rider is typically, horrified, angry yet wholly unsurprised.

Also – ‘average American’? Is that like an ‘average European’?

Charged with murder.

Without that (brave) camera footage/person he’d have probably received a commendation for keeping his cool.

Are the Officers observational skills that bad as well? (not to notice or note/acknowledge someone holding a camera/object within their peripheral)

Thank god you nailed the critical issue of this …it was certainly my first thoughts on seeing this 😕

So glad I do not live in a country with armed police

its not a low risk move ?

Certainly not, unless you’re white, in which case they’ll try their best to take you down with nunchucks or something.

I’ve noticed that one of the peculiar things about American police shootings always seems to be their standard action after a shooting,

+1. Creepy, disassociated, murderous behaviour. Puts me in mind of the killer of Lee Rigby.

As much as I hate to think it – letting the person you just shot die on the scene is surely the least complicated course of action for the police officer.

As someone said:

‘Dead men tell no tales’

An apt expression. Fortunately for any possible future victims of this latest clueless Robocop – cameras do tell tales.

Good luck to this fella if/when he gets to prison. 😯

The police were quick to get an initial statement out that said that the officer was attacked by the victim, that the victim had taken his taser and that the officer had been forced to fire his weapon during the struggle as he feared for his life. They even said “police and witnesses said…”, as if there were other people who imagined the officer’s version of events as well.

As for lying about administering CPR when in reality you stood there and watched a man die, that’s just sick.

I’m going to get flamed for this I am sure. Not administering first aid and instead putting on handcuffs is pretty calous and will no doubt be used in the trial. However if they guy has been shot multiple times first aid/CPR isn’t going to make any difference to the outcome.

The real issue here for me is the unnecessary lethal force and then the attempted cover up statements.

if they guy has been shot multiple times first aid/CPR isn’t going to make any difference to the outcome.

neither will handcuffs then. Clearly we cannot be certain whether it would or it would not [ unless you can give accurate medical assessments via grainy video]
You probably will get flamed for lacking empathy and humanity.

FWIW if it had been a copper shot in the same way what do you reckon the coppers would have tried or not tried ?

The police were quick to get an initial statement out that said that the officer was attacked by the victim, that the victim had taken his taser and that the officer had been forced to fire his weapon during the struggle as he feared for his life. They even said “police and witnesses said…”, as if there were other people who imagined the officer’s version of events as well.

Really? You’d think any Police press release would be hold off until the facts are known.

So his partner looks like hes in a lot of trouble too then?

However if they guy has been shot multiple times first aid/CPR isn’t going to make any difference to the outcome.

Well that’s nonsense.

Agree. Suge Knight was shot…..how many times???!

However if they guy has been shot multiple times first aid/CPR isn’t going to make any difference to the outcome.

How do you know how many times he was shot? Have postmortem findings been released? Eight shot fired from the gun apparently but that doesn’t mean that he was shot eight times. Nor are there details as far as I know which areas of the body were hit.

.

I’m going to get flamed for this I am sure.

TBH I would expect you to see this incident from a right-wing Republican Tea Party perspective, I guess you’re saying only the sort of thing that right-wing Republican Tea Party law-abiding God-fearing all-American honest folk are probably saying.

It’s getting off the real issue but the guy was shot through the heart. He wasn’t going to survive.

The real issues are that the officer reacted by shooting him and second there does appear to be an attempt to cover up the real situation by placing a taser by the victim.

That the police seem to have largely ignored the person lying dead/dying on the ground could suggest all manner of things but seems surprising to me.

EDIT – shot through the heart based on this – may not be accurate of course
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/us/south-carolina-officer-is-charged-with-murder-in-black-mans-death.html

Mr. Stewart said the coroner had told him that Mr. Scott was struck five times — three times in the back, once in the upper buttocks and once in the ear — with at least one bullet entering his heart. It is not clear whether Mr. Scott died immediately. (The coroner’s office declined to make the report available to The Times.)

nemesis – Member
It’s getting off the real issue but the guy was shot through the heart. He wasn’t going to survive

Yeah, I reckon the copper knew that too. So instead of administering any kind of first aid, he set about cleaning up his ****-up. No point wasting time trying to save the guy’s life. Has anybody told the military this kind of stuff? They could save a fortune on unnecessary medics and their associated kit when soldiers are shot multiple times. Imagine the time wasted trying to save soldiers.

…..the guy was shot through the heart. He wasn’t going to survive.

How could the officer who shot him and the other officers who attended have been sure that a bullet had gone through the heart – did he die instantly?

I always thought that a bullet through the heart means pretty much instant death, how long can you live after a bullet has gone through your heart?