An actual Ferguson: http://www.theroot.com/articles/new...ged_with_murder_after_shooting_black_man.html [youtube]VQgjAY[/youtube]
Life threatening situation involving a screw driver? Does anyone, on any force, anywhere, actually believe they can be killed, or even seriously harmed, by a guy, in front of them, in their visual path, wielding a screw driver?
2 grown men against 1. They have pepper spray, tasers, and training. He has a hand tool. Better shoot him a lot.
"Should be." Regardless, apparently Charleston PD received 275,000 dollars for personal cameras. Where are they?
i figured that you would zero in on that. lol as far as money for cameras i'm sure they will claim "red tape" is holding them up.
The obvious and necessary caveats being noted - innocent until proven, due process, etc. - this looks like cold-blooded first-degree murder. Not manslaughter. Not a "mistake". Murder.
This murder took place in the City of North Charleston. Charleston and North Charleston are not one in the same except in the same county. They are completely different municipalities with their own mayor, police departments and government. The thread title should reflect that. The murder was committed by a North Charleston Police officer.
I've watched this a couple of times, and can't really see where the officer dropped the taser beside the man, likely because of how the camera is rotated from portrait to landscape and back again. I see him run back to the spot where he shot, and retrieve something from the ground. I see him return to the place where the victim fell, but by the time he makes it back, there is another officer on scene. I don't see where the shooting officer drops anything, but later, as the second officer runs off camera to do something, I see him pick something up off the ground ans put it in his waistband / holster. Can someone tell me at what point he placed anything on the ground beside the guy, because I cannot see it. And before anyone's head explodes over this question - I'm only asking because I couldn't actually tell when it occurred, and not because I disbelieve that it did, as the officer clearly retrieves something, and later, picks something else up. And even if the victim had wrested the taser away, you still don't have justification to shoot him, as he's running away (read: it's still murder).
North Charleston is getting better over the last 10 years. Mayor Sumney is doing a hell of a job bringing in businesses and revitalizing Park Circle to an eclectic area with locally owned restaurants. I am sickened by this and down right nauseous. This hits home.
While I am in favor of giving the greatest possible benefit of the doubt to law enforcement, once proven otherwise, I think that the fact that they should be held to an even greater level of accountability. Simply, the "higher standard" should apply in both directions - authority and responsibility - in equal measure.
This video will be used for every police training exercise for eternity. Luckily the indictment was swift with captital murder charges. They are handling it correctly thank God, so far. The local attorney for the officer dropped his representation the minute he saw the video.
