South Carolina Officer Is Charged With Murder of Walter Scott

Warning. Clicking on the video links at the attached link does show the video of the event, and it is a bit disturbing.

Whatever it was that lead up to the shooting, the man was clearly fleeing and I counted 8 shots fired by the officer at the man's back, including the last few that appear to be after the man was visibly hit and injured.

How prevalent is anti black racism in our police forces? I don't think that is a question that anyone can definitively answer, but videos like this, of incidents like this certainly aid in perpetuating the perception that anti black racism is not only alive in police forces, but leads to the death of people.

The officer in the video is being charged with murder.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/u...-charged-with-murder-in-black-mans-death.html

WASHINGTON — A white police officer in North Charleston, S.C., was charged with murder on Tuesday after a video surfaced showing him shooting and killing an apparently unarmed black man in the back while he ran away.

The officer, Michael T. Slager, 33, had said he feared for his life because the man took his stun gun in a scuffle after a traffic stop on Saturday. A video, however, shows the officer firing eight times as the man fled. The North Charleston mayor announced the state charges at a news conference Tuesday evening.

 

No question that is murder. Shot 8 times in the back as he was running away 50 feet away? Throw the book at this murderer.

 

All over a broken taillight. Looks to me like the cop executed this man in cold blood. In fear of his life my eye.

 

Yeah this seems to be nothing but abuse of power. More of a case for requiring all officers to have body cameras and mic's on at ALL TIMES during any traffic stop or anything dealing with civilians.

Watch the amount of police brutality that does not occur considering all these officers will have to accept the cameras story as it will be the only story. At the same time civilians will not be able to lie about brutality that did not happen. Best of both worlds.

 

No question that it's murder and excessive force and it should be noted that he's no longer a cop. He's an accused criminal, due his day in trial and will very likely be convicted. I applaud South Carolina for taking the unprompted actions of reviewing the case and pressing charges. Having done so in an efficient manner, the Sharpton's of the world can't make mockery of the man's death.

But as far as whether the officer acted on racism, that'll probably be investigated by the Justice Department(They finally have a case worthy of investigating! As well as interviews with the family members/suspect himself) That said, as the shooter who has a vested interest in a lower sentence I wouldn't trust a single word out of his mouth.

Whatever the investigation on that charge, the Liberals should be happy that a murderer will no longer portray himself as a LEO. While mourning the citizen's death. It should be slightly noted, had the poor man obeyed the officer he wouldn't have given him any justification for which to shoot. So while murder's murder, the dude did participate however sadly in his own demise.

 

On the last paragraph how do you know that is true?

 

He was arrested and charged with murder.

What's to discuss?

I always have to ask though, if he didn't run would he be dead?

 

As a black person you just have to get lucky that when you leave your house a cop does not mess with you.

 

Oscar Grant Ring any bells?

 

If the citizen had obeyed instruction, chances were good that the officer would lack any justification at all for pulling the weapon. Arrested, yes but at least alive. It doesn't change the officer's brutality, but it is noted that law-abiding citizens generally do not face the barrel of a gun.

 

I wonder what the talking points would be if there was no video. I'm sure we could take a good guess.

 

What does this case have to do with racism? Why do you, TFM, feel the need to make mention of it? Why does the author of the article feel inclined to note the race of the officer and suspect? There is nothing within the story to suggest the man was shot because he's black.

 

As a white person, you just have to hope that you don't accidentally find yourself in the wrong neighborhood, or asked questions about the Michael Brown case.

 

Have you heard of the oscar grant case?

 

This is what happens when stupid meets stupid. The "victim" owed child support, but he's driving a Mercedes. He runs away, like he doesn't understand that the car has registration that leads to him, and it will be impounded, leading to more problems.
The cop is on video. He fires the taser, drops it, and so forth. You read the story. This looks premeditated, like the cop had a fantasy about how he was "gonna get one", and this is how he carried it out. If this department is investigated, it would be interesting to learn whether there are other "officers" who talk among themselves about how to get away with killing. What are the odds?
On behalf of society, it's just as well that these two met as they did.

 

How do you know this shooting was caused by "anti black racism in our police forces"? Are you just speculating as to the officer's motives?

 

Why was he being tased and why was there a scufful going on?

And Police have the authority and duty to stop fleeing violent felons and even use lethal force to do so so that they believe the fleeing felon is a further threat to the community and other police officers who would have to apprehend him later. That was brought out the Brown shooting.

So what happened before the taser was used?

And what don't some people understand, if a police officer is taking you into custody you don't resist, you don't assault him and you try to escape.

 

I did not say it had anything to do with racism.

Because this is a political discussion forum, and I am discussing a relevant event in today's current events, including offering my own perspective on it. If you review the OP, you will see how I noted that incidents like this could, in my opinion, lend to the perception that police are racist.

 

You're clearly suggesting, and I'm sure you believe that, this incident was racially motivated... though there isn't any evidence to suggest there was a racial motivation.

You could have simply pointed out that the incident seemed like excessive force, or unjustifiable lethal force.

 

And so the officer who is charged with taking him into custody is supposed to just let him flea, especially if as the officer claims he assaulted the officer in doing so after the TASER did not work on him? He gets a free run card or something? It is not "whatever", it depends entirely on what happened before the shooting

Yep too bad he didn't stop during the first six that missed or were not aimed at him but to frighten him into stopping perhaps.

So tell me what happened exactly that led up to the TASER being used?

 

The guy was stopped for a broken tail light. No mention of him being a felon or having been involved in a felony.

From the OP

8 shots to an unarmed dude running away ... That is sad commentary any way you slice it or dice it.

 

Yikes........

 

"Tried to grab my gun...."
"Feel my life was threatened..."

Always the same crap. Why not just tell the truth that mentally you don't have what it takes to be a cop?

 

Clear case of Murder. The guy need to be put away.

 

It seems the prosecutors are going to be nailing him for the fact that he planted his tazer next to Scott.
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150407/PC16/150409468

The police of Charleston are doing the right thing in charging this man with murder.