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Video Shows Officer Shooting Unarmed Black Man in South Carolina

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solletica said:
The Constitution says "We the People", not "We the security forces"



Your welcome.
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I am sorry to tell you this but "we the people" appears no where in the legal document known as the United States Constitution.

"We the people.." are the famous first three words of the preamble to the constitution which has no legal standing whatsoever.'

These erroneous declarations were funny at one point, but disturbing in the fact they are so ubiquitous with the American left who appear to hate cops.....
 
disneydude said:
Seeing this video along with other recent incidents tell me that something is seriously wrong in America today. We have racist thugs that believe they are above the law simply because they carry a badge and we have bigots who believe that they can use their religion as an excuse to discriminate. Many want to claim that we are a "Christian Nation". If this is true....perhaps there is no better time than the present to step back and evaluate ourselves and determine is any of these actions are consistent with the principles that Christ taught.
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I don't agree that this is about race. I believe this is about power. Race is only in play because American blacks tend to not have the same level of power in local government as American whites.

It's easier to prey on the weak.
 
Fletch said:
You cant reasonably draw that conclusion (or any other for that matter) from this single incident. Despite all the hyperventilating by the left, this is the first incident of clear wrongdoing by a police officer. Wrongdoing by black 'thugs' is rampant but ignored by the left for political reasons, not rational ones.
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Hardly. There have been numerous incidents of police misconduct caught and video and juries that walk them. Take a look starting with Rodney King and go from there. BTW...I don't "overlook" behavior by any thugs, regardless of color and regardless of whether or not the thug carries a badge and wears a uniform.
 
Tettsuo said:
I don't agree that this is about race. I believe this is about power. Race is only in play because American blacks tend to not have the same level of power in local government as American whites.

It's easier to prey on the weak.
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That's absolutely true. But is doesn't mean that race doesn't also play a major role.
 
ReverendHellh0und said:
so, if a black man is killed, no matter what, or who's involved, it;s "racist"?
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No necessarily...but anyone who thinks that there is not a strong vein of racism that infects the police force of pretty much every major city in America is fooling themselves.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
That is an interesting caveat that you chose to include, implying that being armed (alone?) makes someone threatening. Does that mean that it is OK (legal according to you) to shoot an armed fleeing suspect in the back?
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A man running from you with no weapons is not a danger to you or anybody else and shooting him down like this is illegal, unlawful, immoral and wrong, wronger and totally and utterly devoid of any defensibility whatsoever.

And an armed suspect can be a danger to you or other officers/other people, so yes, shooting to kill might be reasonable at that point.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
You seem to be terribly confused. This was not a matter of police rights or even SC police policy; it was considered not only grounds for the officer's immediate termination but for criminal murder charges.
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Your law enforcement has a track record of using disproportionate lethal response to petty offences and then getting away with it . This guy got unlucky by being filmed when doing so. How many others like him are equally culpable of such excesses and weren't filmed ?
 
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disneydude said:
No necessarily...but anyone who thinks that there is not a strong vein of racism that infects the police force of pretty much every major city in America is fooling themselves.
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It's foolish to suspect racism whenever a black man is killed.
 
Peter King said:
A man running from you with no weapons is not a danger to you or anybody else and shooting him down like this is illegal, unlawful, immoral and wrong, wronger and totally and utterly devoid of any defensibility whatsoever.

And an armed suspect can be a danger to you or other officers/other people, so yes, shooting to kill might be reasonable at that point.
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This even went to the Supreme Court which ruled that the fleeing person must be posing an imminent threat to the officer or any other person. Knowing as things stood he was wrong, the officer immediately went back to the spot where his taser lay, retrieved it and took it over to the deceased and dropped it by him for alibi. There's no telling how often in history this type of thing has occurred, but people walking around with cameras are proving to be a thorn in the side of law enforcement.
 
Montecresto said:
This even went to the Supreme Court which ruled that the fleeing person must be posing an imminent threat to the officer or any other person. Knowing as things stood he was wrong, the officer immediately went back to the spot where his taser lay, retrieved it and took it over to the deceased and dropped it by him for alibi. There's no telling how often in history this type of thing has occurred, but people walking around with cameras are proving to be a thorn in the side of law enforcement.
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And that is what is the more reprehensible thing this officer did. The shooting was terrible but might have been explained (but not as a defense to prevent punishment) by the officer claiming he was stressed and doing things on pure adreneline/auto pilot. But walking back, picking up the tazer and throwing it beside the dying man, that is pure wickedness IMHO, totally immoral and an attempt to cover up his murderous shooting of that unarmed man.
 
ReverendHellh0und said:
It's foolish to suspect racism whenever a black man is killed.
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Why? When a disproportionate number of black men are shot and killed by law enforcement....if would say that you are foolish to to at least suspect it.
 
Peter King said:
Really? Because from what I just read in Tennessee v. Garner from 1985 the SCOTUS held the opinion upright that:



https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/471/1/case.html

And in this case the suspect was not a felon. He was running and if the officer ran after him over an open field there was an excellent chance of capturing him (with another officer coming onto the scene shortly after the shooting) so it was not even about preventing an escape.
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I know it may be obvious, and I'm not arguing for the officer, god knows I think what he did was wrong, but the important thing is, " officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others."

The officer has to demonstrate the he had probable cause to BELIEVE that Mr. Scott was a significant threat to other officers or society.

For example, if the dispatcher mistakenly told the officer that the Mr. Scott was a convinced felon who was wanted for (insert heinous crime here), then Mr. Scott would at the very least have a defense. Now not that I think that is the case, I'm just pointing out that the reality isn't the standard by which we will judge the officer, it is what the officer reasonably believed to be true.
 
reinoe said:
But the man did have a gun. The officer put on the police report "he tried to take my gun" and then planted the tazer on him. That's the retro-active proof.
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Trying to take someones weapon is justification for shooting I agree, but only when they are trying to take the gun. When Mr. Scott was shot, he was fleeing and didn't have a gun.
 
disneydude said:
Why? When a disproportionate number of black men are shot and killed by law enforcement....if would say that you are foolish to to at least suspect it.
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if a disproportionate amount of black people are committing crimes, wouldn't it make sense that run-in's with the law would happen?


More whites are killed by cops than blacks, btw.
 
j-mac said:
Let me just say that I don't think this officer was justified in killing this man.

With that said, Peter, do you really believe that people should just be able to get physical with cops, then run and get away with no consequences? Really?

You might as well just declare law dead, and open season.
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No consequences? Why didnt the cop run after him and restrain him and arrest him? Or just go to his house and arrest him for the child support and assault?

Assault and resisting arrest charges are consequences.
 
j-mac said:
I agree with you that this officer was wrong. BUT, the SCOTUS has upheld that police are justified in shooting a fleeing suspect.
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Under certain circumstances, like if they pose a reasonable and immediate threat to the cops or the public's safety. (that's my wording, I dont have the actual decision handy).
 
Goshin said:
I know that "impossible to hack" isn't achievable. "Very hard to hack without making it obvious" is do-able and should suffice most of the time, I'd think.
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Well, it looks like cops may have found the perfect hack: point the camera somewhere else.

The tragic shooting of an unarmed black man by a North Charleston, S.C., police officer was not captured on the dashboard camera of the officer charged with murder in the case, a law enforcement official said Thursday.

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division spokesman Thom Berry told USA TODAY that none of the cameras mounted on any of the police vehicles that responded to the scene captured the dramatic moments recorded by a passerby with his cellphone.
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Police: Dash cams don't show S.C. police shooting
 
ReverendHellh0und said:
if a disproportionate amount of black people are committing crimes, wouldn't it make sense that run-in's with the law would happen?


More whites are killed by cops than blacks, btw.
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This shouldn't be a race issue, though there is a racial component that exists.

Police abuse their power/authority with white people too.
 
Thorgasm said:
This shouldn't be a race issue, though there is a racial component that exists.

Police abuse their power/authority with white people too.
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That is my point. you see the complacent black cop standing thier as the white cop plants evidence. Race, had less to do with it, than contempt for the public.
 
csbrown28 said:
I know it may be obvious, and I'm not arguing for the officer, god knows I think what he did was wrong, but the important thing is, " officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others."

The officer has to demonstrate the he had probable cause to BELIEVE that Mr. Scott was a significant threat to other officers or society.

For example, if the dispatcher mistakenly told the officer that the Mr. Scott was a convinced felon who was wanted for (insert heinous crime here), then Mr. Scott would at the very least have a defense. Now not that I think that is the case, I'm just pointing out that the reality isn't the standard by which we will judge the officer, it is what the officer reasonably believed to be true.
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But it is not a potential danger but an actual danger to justify shooting to kill. This person was at the time of being shot not someone who was posing a significant threat of death or serious injury.

This was just a bad shoot, an unjust and illegal shooting.

Sometimes the officer should have been given the benefit of the doubt but this is not such a case.
 
Thorgasm said:
This shouldn't be a race issue, though there is a racial component that exists.

Police abuse their power/authority with white people too.
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Government force needs to be brought to within reasonable means.
 
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