Another White Police Officer killed another Black man
It has happened yet again. A White police officer killed another Black man. This time it occurred in North Charleston, South Carolina. Luckily there is a complete video of the event. That video completely contradicted the police officer.
Police officer Michael Slager, 33, shot at Walter Scott, 50. eight times as he ran away. Michael Slager had stopped Walter Scott, the driver of a Mercedes-Benz presumably for a broken taillight.
The New York Times reported it as follows.
The shooting unfolded after Officer Slager stopped the driver of a Mercedes-Benz with a broken taillight, according to police reports. Mr. Scott ran away, and Officer Slager chased him into a grassy lot that abuts a muffler shop. He fired his Taser, an electronic stun gun, but it did not stop Mr. Scott, according to police reports.
Moments after the struggle, Officer Slager reported on his radio: “Shots fired and the subject is down. He took my Taser,” according to police reports.
But the video, which was taken by a bystander and provided to The New York Times by the Scott family’s lawyer, presents a different account. The video begins in the vacant lot, apparently moments after Officer Slager fired his Taser. Wires, which carry the electrical current from the stun gun, appear to be extending from Mr. Scott’s body as the two men tussle and Mr. Scott turns to run.
Something — it is not clear whether it is the stun gun — is either tossed or knocked to the ground behind the two men, and Officer Slager draws his gun, the video shows. When the officer fires, Mr. Scott appears to be 15 to 20 feet away and fleeing. He falls after the last of eight shots.
The officer then runs back toward where the initial scuffle occurred and picks something up off the ground. Moments later, he drops an object near Mr. Scott’s body, the video shows.
To many this may appear as a new epidemic of police killing Black men indiscriminately. That is simply not so. The only difference is that more of these events are being captured on camera. Sadly, as seen with the Eric Garner case, the John Crawford III case, the Levar Jones case, and many others, sometimes not even a video is enough.