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Video shows trooper shooting unarmed man, South Carolina police say

Can you imagine the conversation in this thread if there wasn't a video?

Oh. That's right. It wouldn't be news because 'cop shoots resisting black man' isn't anything special. And they all claim they were not resisting or doing anything.

I am only surprised that no one has called Jones a "thug" yet.
 
Oh yes, I remember the good old days when you pulled into a service station and there were three station attendants pumping the gas, checking your oil, checking your tire preasure and cleaning your windshield and you never had to get out of your car.

If you don't remember either you're suffering from dementia or you're to inexperiance in life, just not old enough to have experiance what America use to be like.

I'm not American, here people get out of their cars to pump gas, to go into the gas station store to buy snacks or to simply stretch their legs. There are all sorts of legitimate reasons to go about your legitimate daily business without being shot for doing it.

It was back when a cop could pull over someone without fearing being shot.

Was there a time also that people could go about their legitimate daily business without fear of being shot?

Some states don't allow you to pump your own gas. Apparently they think people will blow themselves up. :lamo

So how do people pay? Do you hand your wallet over? What if you wanted to get out, stretch your legs or go into the gas station store to buy some snacks for the next stage of your drive? The civilian had all sorts of legitimate reasons to be out of his car when the police car (sans sirens) drew up.
 
Can you imagine the conversation in this thread if there wasn't a video?

Oh. That's right. It wouldn't be news because 'cop shoots resisting black man' isn't anything special. And they all claim they were not resisting or doing anything.

I have a gas hose in my hand...and they will find themselves drenched in a heartbeat.
 
I'm not American, here people get out of their cars to pump gas, to go into the gas station store to buy snacks or to simply stretch their legs. There are all sorts of legitimate reasons to go about your legitimate daily business without being shot for doing it.



Was there a time also that people could go about their legitimate daily business without fear of being shot?

Once upon a time in America, Americans didn't have to worry about getting shot or worry if they left their front door unlocked when they went on vacation.

At least I experienced the tail end of that era.

There are still some enclaves with in America where you can still experience what it was like back then.
 
I am only surprised that no one has called Jones a "thug" yet.

Well Jones wasn't a thug. If he was the first words out of his mouth after being shot would have been "You shot me because I'm black." instead of asking "Why did you shoot me ? "
 
Once upon a time in America, Americans didn't have to worry about getting shot or worry if they left their front door unlocked when they went on vacation.

At least I experienced the tail end of that era.

There are still some enclaves with in America where you can still experience what it was like back then.

Great.

But at what point did America become a place where going about your legitimate business mean a police officer might drive silently up to your car, ask for your licence and then shoot at you 4 times for doing what he asked you for?

Do you support this new America or would you prefer police officers were able to do this with impunity?
 
Great.

But at what point did America become a place where going about your legitimate business mean a police officer might drive silently up to your car, ask for your licence and then shoot at you 4 times for doing what he asked you for?

Do you support this new America or would you prefer police officers were able to do this with impunity?

It began with left wing political correctness, when police recruiting standards were lowered.

If you look at how many and who with in LE have been fired, convicted, etc, for corruption or unlawful use of force in the past few decades, the majority would have never been hired as law enforcement officers forty years ago.

The ones yelling the most are the ones who caused it.

There's also more to it, twenty of thirty years ago when comparing LE in the west to LE in the east
(Any state that doesn't touch the Mississippi River is the "west") was like comparing apples to oranges. On the east LE was "law enforcement", reactive like (progressive law enforcement) reacting to a crime and that's how libs like it. Most LE were Irish, Italian or Jewish.

In the west LE was proactive, peace officers keeping the peace. Western LE were mostly WASP.

Not true in the west today except for some county Sheriffs departments.
 
Great.

But at what point did America become a place where going about your legitimate business mean a police officer might drive silently up to your car, ask for your licence and then shoot at you 4 times for doing what he asked you for?

Do you support this new America or would you prefer police officers were able to do this with impunity?

Don't be silly. This only happens when you are black. And that's been going on for a long long time.
 
So what are you saying, we should just let this go and...? There has to be some accountability for these things. If he had killed the guy this would be a disgrace, luckily he is so jumpy he missed almost all of his shots and only shot him in the hip.

We all make mistakes and then have to pay for them, why should police officers be any different? If a surgeon does a fine job on 9 patients then kills the last one from a terrible mistake, do we just let it go? Of course not.

Like others have said, if he is so rattled by what happened earlier he should have already resigned.

Who's letting anything go? From your own OP article:

"But Groubert, who has since been fired for the incident, has been charged with aggravated assault and battery, a felony that could get him up to 20 years in prison if convicted, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said Wednesday."

Did you even read the article before posting, or did you do what most in the media today do and see 'white officer v. black shooting victim' and run with your anti cop argument out of the box?

Now look, many things in this stop looked to have been wrong. 1. Most LEO's that I know will instruct that in a traffic stop situation that the person being stopped remain in their car, and follow the orders of the LEO from that point. There is a reason for that, here we see why.
 
Come on, he totally over reacted. He asked for some id and the guy went for it. Maybe he shouldn't be asking for people to reach for things if it makes him jumpy.

He would have been comfortable if he pulled the guy over and then forced him to lay on the ground with with arms spread, so he could interrogate him about his seatbelt violation.
 
It's hysterical that someone says you have to tell the cops you're reaching over to get your lic and registration. I used to have a lead foot and have probably been pulled over at least 8 times. I've never said, ok officer I'm reaching over to my glove box to retrieve my registration. Ok officer I'm handing it to you. Nobody does that,and the person who said it is grasping for straws.

I do remember being 9 mo pg and holding my belly telling him my water just broke. The look on his face was priceless. I let him know I was joking and we both had a good laugh.
 
If he killed the guy, he would have been able to argue he stood his ground against a perceived threat. We already have an example of a cop shooting an armed black man in Ferguson, and he hasn't been arrested yet.

This guy had his hands up as soon as the cop started firing, and he was stopped for not wearing a seatbelt. Usually when cops are looking for DUIs or drugs, they stop for minor things like seatbelts or unsteady driving. It's BS. It's happened to me in bad neighborhood before. They asked me why I was out so late and I told them I was university student, driving home to stay at a friends. I think the trooper was profiling him to begin with. That's just how I see cops.

As everybody on TV keeps repeating, cops need better training and they should all wear cameras.


So what are you saying, we should just let this go and...? There has to be some accountability for these things. If he had killed the guy this would be a disgrace, luckily he is so jumpy he missed almost all of his shots and only shot him in the hip.

We all make mistakes and then have to pay for them, why should police officers be any different? If a surgeon does a fine job on 9 patients then kills the last one from a terrible mistake, do we just let it go? Of course not.

Like others have said, if he is so rattled by what happened earlier he should have already resigned.
 
I posted this earlier:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBUUO_VFYMs

Note that the police officer never hit the siren, and since the 'stop' was for a safety belt infraction, committed while moving his car about 30 yards in a parking lot, no reason for the guy to assume he's being pulled over until he's spoken to already outside his vehicle.

Actually, just watched it again, and it's not clear the car that was originally in front of the police car is the same one pulled over. At any rate, the guy didn't hit the siren. No reason for the driver to assume he was being stopped.

You do not see the truck of the guy who was shot until the cop car backs up and turns into the lot. The cops siren never went off, and it is not clear if the lights were flashed

The guy who was shot was not at the pumps, but could very easily have gotten out to get something from the store or to clean the trucks windows. I expect until the cop asked for his license he had no idea the cop was interested in him.

It was a bad shooting and the cop should be up for assault charges if not attempted murder charges
 
I have to wonder why the guy got out of his SUV in the first place, why he didn't empty his hands (was he driving with all that **** in his lap?), and why he rushed back into his SUV for his license (it's not in his pocket? wtf?). Is he just stupid?

If he reached into his pocket, he would have been shot too. I have a friend who takes his wallet out and set them on dashboard so the cops can see. I usually rummage through my purse for my IDs in front of cops. I never thought they would think that I am going for a gun and possibly kill me, but I am also not a scary black man. He said his dad said "make sure the cops can see your hands all the time." This poor fellow didn't do that, but he was also getting his ID like the cop asked.
 
We don't know why he got out of the car. Maybe he thought it would have been safer and less threatening to show the cop his entire body...

But if he sat in his car and reached for his glove box or opened a counsel, the cop would have obviously shot him too.

He was able to physically retreat from the cop when he opened fire. If he got shot inside the car, he would have probably been hit more times. We just don't know. Maybe he'll give an interview some day and explain why he got out of the car.


Sometimes I don't even have pockets. I have jogging shorts with no pockets. Wallet sits either in the center console, or in the glove box.


Of course, I've also never gotten out of my car when a cop stops, either.

Never the less. You can't tell a guy to do something....and then he does what you told him to do....and then get all upset because he was doing what you told him to do.

That's what wives are for.
 
He would have been comfortable if he pulled the guy over and then forced him to lay on the ground with with arms spread, so he could interrogate him about his seatbelt violation.

No, he would have been "more comfortable" had the subject stayed in his vehicle. But, over all, I am not defending the trooper here, he obviously over reacted IMHO. For that he may spend 20 years in prison...What more would you like? Death penalty?
 
We don't know why he got out of the car. Maybe he thought it would have been safer and less threatening to show the cop his entire body...

But if he sat in his car and reached for his glove box or opened a counsel, the cop would have obviously shot him too.

He was able to physically retreat from the cop when he opened fire. If he got shot inside the car, he would have probably been hit more times. We just don't know. Maybe he'll give an interview some day and explain why he got out of the car.

So now you're a mind reader? Bull ****! There is a tactical reason that any LEO will tell the subjects of traffic stops to remain in their vehicle.

1. So the subject can be observed as the officer approaches the car.
2. So the Officer can maintain a tactical advantage over the subject in the car.
3. So the stop can result in a safe, and secure interaction, and the chance for misinterpretation of actions is taken out of the scenario.

Now, your injecting your obvious bias against LE is not helpful to a rational discussion.
 
Definitely appears to be a bad shooting. Cop should at least be fired, and probably charged. From the information we have, it sounds like the officer did not get over what happened in the shooting a year before. He probably should not have been back out.
 
Definitely appears to be a bad shooting. Cop should at least be fired, and probably charged. From the information we have, it sounds like the officer did not get over what happened in the shooting a year before. He probably should not have been back out.

Just a guess but that's probably what will keep him out of jail and minimize (not remove) the damage in the civil trial (yes, I'm assuming there will be one unless the dept. cuts it off at the pass).
 
Who's letting anything go? From your own OP article:

"But Groubert, who has since been fired for the incident, has been charged with aggravated assault and battery, a felony that could get him up to 20 years in prison if convicted, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said Wednesday."

Did you even read the article before posting, or did you do what most in the media today do and see 'white officer v. black shooting victim' and run with your anti cop argument out of the box?

Now look, many things in this stop looked to have been wrong. 1. Most LEO's that I know will instruct that in a traffic stop situation that the person being stopped remain in their car, and follow the orders of the LEO from that point. There is a reason for that, here we see why.

Perhaps you should have investigated the context in which my reply was made. I was responding to CRUE CAB.

Did you even watch the video and notice that the cop "pulled him over" after the guy was out of his vehicle and about to go into the establishment.

Please do not whine about race, its very annoying and has no relevance.
 
Just a guess but that's probably what will keep him out of jail and minimize (not remove) the damage in the civil trial (yes, I'm assuming there will be one unless the dept. cuts it off at the pass).

That's pretty much what I was seeing too. He will definitely be named in any civil suit (which is almost certainly coming, but likely to be settled out of court), but he also will either be asked to resign or simply fired. He likely will have to do some psych eval and possibly some therapy. He could face some charges, but I highly doubt it would result in any major jail time, especially given the level of the damage done. (Unless, it can be shown that there was possibly some racial motivation there, which would be hard to prove.)
 
If he killed the guy, he would have been able to argue he stood his ground against a perceived threat. We already have an example of a cop shooting an armed black man in Ferguson, and he hasn't been arrested yet.

This guy had his hands up as soon as the cop started firing, and he was stopped for not wearing a seatbelt. Usually when cops are looking for DUIs or drugs, they stop for minor things like seatbelts or unsteady driving. It's BS. It's happened to me in bad neighborhood before. They asked me why I was out so late and I told them I was university student, driving home to stay at a friends. I think the trooper was profiling him to begin with. That's just how I see cops.

As everybody on TV keeps repeating, cops need better training and they should all wear cameras.

Yeah, I'm getting really sick of the defense of "I thought he was a threat", that universal excuse is getting really old and it absolves everyone of any wrongdoing in basically any situation. Its used everywhere, even that damn sprinter with the prosthetic legs used it, Zimmerman, the other recent pellet gun shooting. Its ridiculous and needs to be reworked. I'm somewhat surprised they're actually nailing this guy, maybe it was too far indefensible.

If he hadn't told him to get his license and registration and the guy had turned around and done that there might not be any charges against the trooper. It probably only rests on that command.

I agree I want to see cameras on all cops and better training or policies of when its okay to use lethal force. There should be a requirement of a verified lethal threat being imminent and active.
 
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