White Police Officer Charged With Murder Of Black Man

The policeman wasn't just calm, he was cold. Damned cold for his first time shooting at a human. Wonder if that was his first time. Makes me wonder what is going on with that whole department.

Maybe I am a softie but I believe that most of us would be shaking, running to help, after bringing down an actual person even in self defense. I can hardly draw a bead on the neighbor's dog with my bb gun. Not even when he is digging in my snapdragons. That cold, deliberate firing, that is a red flag. I'm glad I am not the only one to think so. --s6

Apparently there was some lag time between the shooting and when the video surfaced. Thus we get an interesting pre-video perspective. As reported in The Post and Courier, a local paper, on April 4:

[The taser] 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.

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But wait, there's more:

Officers tried to revive him prior to the arrival of paramedics, police said.

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And the attorney speaks (article from April 6):

Slager “felt threatened and reached for his department-issued firearm and fired his weapon,” his attorney added.

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Of course.

The two articles together make for some interesting reading.

ETA: I find it chilling how similar the reports and statements are to other officer involved shootings in which there are neither witnesses nor recordings. It really makes you wonder how many people may have been murdered without anyone's knowledge. And how many of their murderers are still walking around.

Maze Runner said:

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Anybody got a take on why we're seeing a rash of this kind of thing? Are there actually more incidents statistically, or is it that we are only aware of more of them, partly because everyone's carrying a video camera?

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I don't know about police-involved shootings specifically, but with the proliferations of smartphones around the world, no doubt you can find a video of at least one person being killed every day, and when a news outlet finds it they probably play it and definitely report on it. With the CNN and the like as your guide, there's no doubt in viewers' minds that things are getting worse every day. Statistics be damned. Thus you get the collage in the first 30 or so seconds here:
www.ted.com/talks/peter_diamandis_abundance_is_our_future

Oh wait, I meant to post the Steven Pinker TED talk. Whatever...

rugcat said:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/04/0...urder-in-black-mans-death.html?_r=0&referrer=

This incident was caught on video by a bystander. I don't see any way this officer will not be found guilty. It is murder pure and simple.

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Don't see any way? That's a joke right?

I'll make a friendly wager. I got $20 on this cop not being found guilty of murder.

If Officer Slager is charged, he won't be indicted. If indicted he won't be put on trial. If put on trial, he won't be convicted. If convicted, he won't be imprisoned and he will NEVER be sentenced to death.

Officer Slager walks. Any takers?

nighttimer said:

Don't see any way? That's a joke right?

I'll make a friendly wager. I got $20 on this cop not being found guilty of murder.

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What about twenty rep points? I bet he will be found guilty of murder.

Maze Runner said:

Anybody got a take on why we're seeing a rash of this kind of thing?

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Up until December 26, 2004, there existed very little video footage of a significant tsunami. Why? Because prior to that time, at the rare occurrence of a big tsunami, to take video, you needed a home movie camera. The chances of that happening were small. There exists some really shaky footage of the tsunami that hit Valdez, Alaska, in 1964, taken by a sailor aboard a ship in the harbor, just shooting home movie film for fun. Likewise a little grainy black-an d-white of the 1960 tsunami approaching Hilo, Hawaii. That's about it.

It all changed the day after Christmas, 2004, when the most catastrophic tsunami event in human history struck, following an immense earthquake off the northern coast of the island of Sumatra. That happened early in the morning on a beautiful clear day. About 200 miles to the east lay the coast of southern Thailand, a major tourist region, with lots of people on the beach, unaware of what had happened.

What did every tourist have at their instant disposal at that time? A CAMERA the size of a deck of cards. Vast amounts of footage were taken, including a truly horrifying bit that survived, taken by a Canadian couple on the beach as the water approached. They died. The camera survived.

Why do we now have so many instances of this kind of thing? Let me think for a moment, and see if I can puzzle it out.

The really disturbing question is, How much of this stuff took place on a routine basis, hidden from public view, before video cameras became ubiquitous?

caw

rugcat said:

Yes, he will be convicted of murder.

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I hope you're right, but I guess I'm curious how you can be so sure. When was the last time a cop was convicted of murdering someone while on duty?

nighttimer said:

Officer Slager walks. Any takers?

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You forgot the part where someone starts a fundraiser for him.

I'm betting he'll be convicted of murder. If not, my already dwindling faith in our system of justice may take a fatal hit.

He'd better be convicted of murder. What more could it take?

I heard the story on the radio, "video shows the policeman shooting the man in the back as he ran away. The policeman said he was afraid for his safety."

This is perhaps the most egregious police shooting I've heard of. There may have been "plausible doubt" in other high-profile shootings, but not this one.

If this guy was originally stopped for a broken tail light, how come they are nowhere near a road, let alone a car. They look like they are on a walking path somewhere...

I get the impression the guy fled from his vehicle, was caught and tazed, got up and continued to run, which is why they weren't still on the road.

I think a lot of cops would be extremely upset to see someone run off and get away scott-free just because they couldn't catch them. That doesn't mean they should feel free to shoot. And in this case, it's even more egregious, because there was no way the guy was going to get off scott-free. The suspect had left a vehicle back there (the one with the broken tail light) and the cop could have simply walked back to the vehicle and ran the plates, had it towed, or done any number of things. But no. He shot a man in the back in cold blood, then seemed to act to cover his tracks while showing no hint of concern or remorse (except maybe concern for his own ass.)

No matter what else occurred, even if he HADN'T just murdered someone, showing no concern over a man actually dying right in front of him proves to me that he had no business working as an officer or, for that matter, being anywhere near a firearm. He is, in layman's terms (not trying to diagnose anyone here) a freaking psychopath.

But the fact is, he clearly DID murder someone. He had his adrenaline up, and he wasn't going to let his suspect get away no matter what. What a stupid reason to shoot an unarmed man in the back. "Lapse in judgement" doesn't come close to describing it. It's so far from what happened as to be insulting.

I'm so for body cams it's unreal. It's way past time that the privacy excuse holds any water, imho, for very important public safety reasons. It would also exonerate good shootings, I think.

I'm a little surprised that folks are so incredulous about this, sadly. I think there are bad seeds in all areas, and police and military work can attract the wrong element in small quantities at least.

When I was in high school, my best friend's mother was friends with a cop's ex-wife who was being physically abused, stalked, etc, horribly by him, and there was zero she could do about it (back then, at least). The 'thin blue line' left a bad taste in my mouth ever since, as she did tell his friends and his superior about it (informally, due to fear). I love most cops, am fine with tolerating the rest, but hope there's a special place in Hell for some of them.

As far as shootings go, we had an unarmed-man shooting this year, and I think it was a white cop and Black man, AAMOF. But, #1: it's being investigated by the SBI per state policy. And #2: our cops tend to shoot too few bullets or not shoot at all (which is good in its own way, of course) judging from many other incidents. We've had more fatally shot cops than cop-involved fatal shootings here.

It was a bicycle cop and a struggle for his gun. He was shot once, and an ambulance was called, treated him and got him to the hospital. It sounds quite plausible, but I'd still much rather have a video of the event! It didn't cause much controversy here, and we have a very active (Black) activist community, so that makes me more comfortable about it, too. Cops do have to shoot people sometimes, but I wish we didn't have to weigh the evidence without proof like cameras offer. That's not right.

I'm so glad there is video of this unspeakable one. It will wake up a few folks at very least

rugcat said:

Yes, he will be convicted of murder. But my personal guess is that he will plea-bargain down and plead guilty to 2nd degree murder.

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I think he'll certainly be facing charges and will likely go to court. Hopefully, he'll be convicted. But that's never a lock. As to the plea bargain, I think you're probably right, unless there's a lack of willingness in the DA's office to make a deal, any deal, because of political pressure.

rugcat said:

But in this case, we have incontrovertible video evidence. Not only of the shooting, but incontrovertible evidence that the officer lied about what happened. And given the publicity that questionable police shootings have garnered in the last few months, I believe a jury will absolutely convict in this case.

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Oakland. BART.

Everyday folks with phone cameras--our new guardian angels. Lets pray that everyday people continue to have the balls, empathy and conscience to see the injustices and do something about them. Life cannot be easy for the camera guy right now--s6

Anyone have any links on police corruption in SC?

Thewitt said:

If this guy was originally stopped for a broken tail light, how come they are nowhere near a road, let alone a car. They look like they are on a walking path somewhere...

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The policeman's narrative is that he fled the traffic stop on foot. For what that's worth.

Monkey said:

I get the impression the guy fled from his vehicle, was caught and tazed, got up and continued to run, which is why they weren't still on the road.

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Could be. After the cop shoots him, he walks back to where they stood before and picks something up. I guessing the tazer, but I can't be sure. Then he walks over and drops something near the body, again I assume the tazer.

But a tazer isn't a gun, it's basically a dart gun. I could be wrong, but don't tazer's only hold 1 shot? If the cop fired the tazer at the victim, unless he missed, wouldn't the autopsy show it? And wouldn't that in and of itself disprove the entire story?

Vince524 said:

If the cop fired the tazer at the victim, unless he missed, wouldn't the autopsy show it? And wouldn't that in and of itself disprove the entire story?

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Doesn't matter all that much, Slager's story has already been completely discredited.

To be fair, the entire story has not been discredited. It's still an open question--from what I've seen--with regards to what happened prior to the time of the video. Did Scott run from a traffic stop? Why? Could be the apparent outstanding family court warrant, could be something else. Did he do anything else prior to the moment the video begins, along the lines of a struggle? We don't know.

But that really shouldn't impact the culpability of Slager, imo. He gunned down a guy who was trying to run away. And there were already other officers on the way. Scott wasn't going anywhere. It was murder plain and simple, imo.

robeiae said:

To be fair, the entire story has not been discredited. It's still an open question--from what I've seen--with regards to what happened prior to the time of the video. Did Scott run from a traffic stop? Why? Could be the apparent outstanding family court warrant, could be something else. Did he do anything else prior to the moment the video begins, along the lines of a struggle? We don't know.

But that really shouldn't impact the culpability of Slager, imo. He gunned down a guy who was trying to run away. And there were already other officers on the way. Scott wasn't going anywhere. It was murder plain and simple, imo.

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true.

and what if he runs away? you have his car (i'm assuming) and eye witnesses that could probably help id the person.

what's more, for fucks sake---run after the guy.
my 70yr old father could have overtaken that guy in about 3 seconds.