North Charleston cop charged with murder after video surfaces of him shooting man in the back

originally posted by: windword
a reply to: zazzafrazz

Planting fake evidence with ease, this cop's done this before methinks.

Not only that! But he dropped that "evidence" right in front of the other officer! There's no way that the other officer didn't see it happen! They're both guilty of collusion! I hope that other officer gets fired too!

To me this invalidates the "there are just a few bad cops and the rest are good cops" theory, their peers have an OBLIGATION to report misconduct such as this, instead they choose to PARTICIPATE in it.

No good cops, sorry, the good ones left a long time ago.



I will only change my opinion of cops when they change their treatment of people and change the way they work, working for us not against us.

The ball is in THEIR court. Not mine.

It is up to them to EARN my respect (again).

originally posted by: WeAreAWAKE
To answer your graphic...it changed when people became assholes fighting, running and attempting to avoid arrest.

Oh, and this only happened when, exactly?

I've said it before, but this is exactly why American policing is so f-ed up, the idea that this can even be considered acceptable use of force is what really is frightening.

The notion that fleeing from the police is punishable by instant execution is a terrifying notion, and not something that any truly rational person can even begin to justify.

Listen up, here's some truth for you... a cop is NOT a judge. A cop is NOT a jury. A cop is NOT an executioner.

You have a legal system for a reason. The job of a police officer is to prevent crime, investigate crime, and then bring those SUSPECTED of committing a crime to the courts. That's it, that's all, they are not bestowed with special privileges enabling them to make judgments about anyone they encounter. They do not have the right to assume guilt, to deliver any form of punishment, or to bypass the legal system - EVEN IF SOMEONE HAS JUST KILLED SOMEONE ELSE, let alone done something as minor as running away.

The very notion that you think someone running away from a cop somehow justifies their execution is so sick and twisted, I have to wonder if this stems from a racist view that some in society "deserve" to be treated like animals. No sane person with respect for Human life can possibly think that execution is reasonable punishment for running from a cop.

Unless American society learns to change this insanely deranged attitude to policing nothing is ever going to improve. Your police do not have special powers, they need to be prevented from thinking they do, and you need to start by making sure people like WeAreAWAKE are confronted when they preach this kind of lunacy.

originally posted by: filosophia
Where's the blood? Why is the victim's shirt still tiel? Why would a cop put hand cuffs on a dead guy? The way the victim fell to the ground reminded me of how me and my friends would pretend to die when making homemade movies. Why was this in the middle of a park if it involved a traffic stop? Why was the cop so lazy he didn't even try to catch the guy? The name Slager is unusual, like Slayer. Also, Slager is a surname that originated from Slag, waste materials deposited from a smelting process. So Slagger would have been someone who worked with metals and most likely hauled away the 'Slag' or in this case, what we would call "taking out the trash."

Maybe this video is 100 % genuine, and this shows not only an immoral cop but also one who is incredibly lazy, and trigger happy, but there are still lots of questions to be answered. Of course I'll say arrest the cop just to be on the safe side, either he is a murderer or part of a false flag criminal conspiracy, so either way I would like to seem him arrested, so don't criticize me for "standing up for the cop." I'm just saying, this look suspicious, especially since everyone is taking it at face value.

It must be exhausting to see a conspiracy in every single thing in life. I dont know how some of you guys do it.

originally posted by: WeAreAWAKE
Instead of race, lets go with WHO I am instead.

Hang on, lets confront this shall we?
Your attitude seems to be that some are deserving of execution for something as minor as "not obeying". This suggests that you have devalued Human life to a point where ending a life over something meaningless is justifiable.

Like it not, you have suggested that you believe some people are deserving of execution for minor infractions, we should explore whether you think this is about class, education, gender, or indeed race. I find it hard to believe you could make any assertion about his social standing, and I find it unlikely that this opinion is about him being male, the only thing left is race.

A sane person cannot devalue Human life to such a point without there being a reason behind it. I for one would love to work out what that reason is.

originally posted by: Rocker2013

originally posted by: WeAreAWAKE
To answer your graphic...it changed when people became assholes fighting, running and attempting to avoid arrest.

Oh, and this only happened when, exactly?

I've said it before, but this is exactly why American policing is so f-ed up, the idea that this can even be considered acceptable use of force is what really is frightening.

The notion that fleeing from the police is punishable by instant execution is a terrifying notion, and not something that any truly rational person can even begin to justify.

Listen up, here's some truth for you... a cop is NOT a judge. A cop is NOT a jury. A cop is NOT an executioner.

You have a legal system for a reason. The job of a police officer is to prevent crime, investigate crime, and then bring those SUSPECTED of committing a crime to the courts. That's it, that's all, they are not bestowed with special privileges enabling them to make judgments about anyone they encounter. They do not have the right to assume guilt, to deliver any form of punishment, or to bypass the legal system - EVEN IF SOMEONE HAS JUST KILLED SOMEONE ELSE, let alone done something as minor as running away.

The very notion that you think someone running away from a cop somehow justifies their execution is so sick and twisted, I have to wonder if this stems from a racist view that some in society "deserve" to be treated like animals. No sane person with respect for Human life can possibly think that execution is reasonable punishment for running from a cop.

Unless American society learns to change this insanely deranged attitude to policing nothing is ever going to improve. Your police do not have special powers, they need to be prevented from thinking they do, and you need to start by making sure people like WeAreAWAKE are confronted when they preach this kind of lunacy.

Quoted for 100% total and utter agreement.

second line

originally posted by: WeAreAWAKE
To answer your graphic...it changed when people became assholes fighting, running and attempting to avoid arrest. If when a police officer tells you to stop, you stop...this wouldn't happen.

Yet again, what about the shooting of John Crawford?

a reply to: WeAreAWAKE

What a load of utter nonsense.

If your little theory were true, then explain why US police have killed more than double the amount of people killed in the UK in an entire century in the matter of 1 month??

This seems to hold true for most other countries too.

I am almost positive that people try to run from the cops in those other countries also, amazing how they don't end up getting shot though isn't it?

From: edition.cnn.com...

The difference in the number of killings in the U.S. and the rest of the world is startling. While police in other major countries typically kill a few people every year, the numbers here are enormous.

On average, at least one person is killed by a cop every day in the U.S. In contrast, not a single one was killed in Britain last year, where police fired their guns a grand total of three times, according to The Economist. In 2011, when the FBI reported 404 justifiable law enforcement homicides in the U.S., police killed six people in Australia, two in England, six in Germany.

From: www.blacklistednews.com...

A new report by ThinkProgress.com unearthed disturbing figures when it came to the number of police-related deaths that occurred in America in the month of March alone.

Just last month, in the 31 days of March, police in the United States killed more people than the UK did in the entire 20th century. In fact, it was twice as many; police in the UK only killed 52 people during that 100 year period.

According to the report by ThinkProgess, in March alone, 111 people died during police encounters — 36 more than the previous month.

This high number in March increased the average for police killings from every 8.5 hours, to nearly 1 police killing every 6.5 hours in the US.

China, whose population is 4 and 1/2 times the size of the United States, recorded 12 killings by law enforcement officers in 2014.

On average, US police kill people at a rate 70 times higher than any of the other first world countries as they “protect and serve” the American citizens.

That cop behaved so rotely the footage shows how he was trying cover up what he'd done. its only to obvious this is standard behavior to a script. The only difference being that nowadays everyone is carrying a camera phone.

originally posted by: alienjuggalo
Wow I just don't know what to say this guy was clearly running away with his back facing the cop..

At least they charged him with murder. I guess with this video evidence they cant not charge him.

www.postandcourier.com...

A North Charleston police officer was arrested on a murder charge Tuesday after video surfaced of the lawman shooting eight times at 50-year-old Walter Scott as he ran away.

Scott died Saturday after Patrolman 1st Class Michael Slager, 33, shot him in the back.

The State Law Enforcement Division, which looked into whether the shooting was justified, confirmed that the officer had been booked into Charleston County’s jail late Tuesday afternoon on a murder charge.

sry if this has been posted

If Walter Scott's shooting doesn't open one's mind to there being a need to reign in police and address excessive and lethal use of force, I'm not sure what would. The Supreme Court has ruled that a police officer cannot use lethal force on a fleeing suspect unless that suspect is representing a threat to the officer or others. www.nytimes.com...

originally posted by: roadgravel
I wonder how this will be spun in order to justify the shooting. Killed over a broken tail light. If he was being arrested, is there some outstanding warrant. What ever happened to tickets...

The NY Times reports that the suspect ran from the traffic stop possibly due to a standing order on back child support. That doesn't justify, of course, lethal force by the officer.

originally posted by: Bone75

originally posted by: roadgravel
I wonder how this will be spun in order to justify the shooting. Killed over a broken tail light. If he was being arrested, is there some outstanding warrant. What ever happened to tickets...

Well, if the cop felt he was a danger to the community, then he had the right to shoot according to the law. I'm sure that will be his defense.

No the Supreme Court has ruled that police can only use lethal force on a fleeing suspect if in fleeing they still represent a lethal threat to other people. An example would be if a person is running away with a loaded weapon or running to attack another person. www.nytimes.com...

originally posted by: WeAreAWAKE

originally posted by: zazzafrazz

To answer your graphic...it changed when people became assholes fighting, running and attempting to avoid arrest. If when a police officer tells you to stop, you stop...this wouldn't happen. Yes...the cop is way more than likely guilty of something bad, there is some blame for the man that was shot and killed. There was a warrant out for his arrest, he ran, he fought the cop for a weapon and then continued to run. That is not lawful nor acceptable. If he hadn't done that...he would be alive today.

Yes, you can blast my comment and try to twist it into something it is not, but the fact is that if a police officer stops you and you comply with what they tell you to do...which by the way is the law...you will not end up beaten, tased or shot. The dead man DOES bear some guilt in this. But the cop will likely be in jail and (without knowing the entire story) likely belongs there.

And if you disagree, consider this. If the cop had not killed the man...the man would be in jail for his actions.

This quote here is why there has been and continues to be these problems with law enforcement to civilian interactions. People will reach real far to justify a police officer's actions even in the overwhelming face evidence that the officer was just flat out wrong.

What is not being addressed enough is that people of certain descriptions get harsher and more extreme reactions than others. That can be attributed to institutionalized and subconscious bias and prejudice. The longer there are people who won't acknowledge that it exists and instead always give a free pass to the police for whatever they do, the longer the problem will continue to exist. More people will be killed needlessly.

When there is any institution of authority that is granted the benefit of any doubt in any situation, it gives that institution a sense of omnipotence and consequential immunity. Certain individuals will exploit that to do as they feel and act impulse which can be fueled by bias and prejudice. Any organization granted with power will be eventually diverted down a treacherous path when left unchecked.

originally posted by: Quetzalcoatl14

originally posted by: roadgravel
I wonder how this will be spun in order to justify the shooting. Killed over a broken tail light. If he was being arrested, is there some outstanding warrant. What ever happened to tickets...

The NY Times reports that the suspect ran from the traffic stop possibly due to a standing order on back child support. That doesn't justify, of course, lethal force by the officer.

But that's just the problem with American thinking when it comes to police, too many idiots DO think that's deserving of execution. In the minds of many Americans, unless you bow down to a man in a police uniform and lick his boots clean like a good little pleb, you're "asking for it".

I used to chuckle at Cartman and his catchphrase "you will respect my authoritah!" but it's an absolutely correct portrayal of idiotic American policing. You have so many bully cops with daddy issues wearing a uniform, people who are more interested in being seen as a "hero" than actually serving their community, and far too many who are more than okay about ending someones life, just for challenging their authority.

You have put these people on such a high pedestal they can literally murder people in the street and get away with it, no need to have the courts, no need to have judges and juries, no need to prove anything, just give them all a gun and a badge and tell them their backs are covered. An excuse can be used to shoot dead someone and it's covered up by their corrupt police department - because they all just want to be heroes after all, one little shooting of one "thug ******" shouldn't put an end to that!

With all the unjust murders you have seen on camera committed by out of control police officers, just imagine how many hundreds of thousands there have been all across the country, never seen on video, never getting to an indictment, officers never being held accountable for their actions because their PD bosses conveniently mislaid the paperwork, or had a quiet word with a witness, or took out their victim when no one was around to witness it.

I would not respect any American cop who is not calling for a complete overhaul of American policing. If they are not calling for that, they are part of the problem. You cannot possibly work in that public service without seeing the problems for yourself, and if they are not calling for change they do not deserve to be in that job.

This whole thing about the police officer shooting the man in South Carolina is a real eye opener. Notice I didn't say a white police officer shooting a black man, race is only a distraction in this discussion.

Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda are applied by every person when it comes to stories like this... well he could have done this or that,,,, he should have done this or that....he would have done this or that.

All that is pure conjecture. The are only two version of events.... what the police officer said happened and everything the police did up to the very minute the video was released by the family. The video shows a vastly different version of events that was initially reported before it was known to exist.

But it shows much more than that....a single police officer can not cover up the fact that he shot someone 4 times in the back from a distance that forensics would have clearly shown that the suspect was too far away to be a "life-threat" to the officer. There had to be other police officers turning a "blind eye" to what really occurred during the investigation as well... there is no way to justify from the position of the shell casing from the officers gun and the suspects body that it was a justified shooting.

Maybe an internal investigation would have determined this. The coroner would have had to rule the case "death by homicide"... people don't naturally die of 4 bullet holes in the back. But no one will ever know because the video became public and changed everything.

But what is really scary is that now some people are trying to place blame on the dead man for being "partly responsible" for what happened. The most common statement is that if he had just obeyed the officer or not ran then none of this would have happen.

News Flash people: Lethal Force has very specific guidelines under which it can be used...by private citizens and police officers alike. You can watch a thousand episodes of "Cops"... and you wont see any police officers shooting people in the back for trying to run away.

Stop the speculation and stick with what we know... a police officer shot at a suspect who was fleeing ( and not very fast if you saw the video ), hitting him 5 times out of 8, 4 in the back and once in the ear.

It's wrong and it's indefensible. People trying to place some of the blame on the victim is probably the worst of all.....people who think that the suspects past history or anything the suspect did makes the fact that he was shot in the back somehow ok, don't realize how stupid that sounds.... they also don't realize that they are actually saying its ok for the police to shoot people in the back when they are trying to escape.

Next time someone breaks in your house and you startle them and they try to run out the door.... go ahead and shoot them in the back 4 times and claim that you were in fear for your life.

Let us know how that works out for you at your trial.

a reply to: Quetzalcoatl14

Well its not looking good for this cop, but I doubt he'll get anything more than manslaughter.

originally posted by: Quetzalcoatl14

originally posted by: roadgravel
I wonder how this will be spun in order to justify the shooting. Killed over a broken tail light. If he was being arrested, is there some outstanding warrant. What ever happened to tickets...

The NY Times reports that the suspect ran from the traffic stop possibly due to a standing order on back child support. That doesn't justify, of course, lethal force by the officer.

Haven't seen any other articles about this, but I know the BBC started reporting on it and talking about the victim being arrested about 10 times (how is this "about" 10 times? Do they seriously not have an accurate record? Are they going on police hearsay?)

They included mention of the police officer being a five-year veteran of the force. So, instantly we have nice and fluffy info for the murdering cop, and an attack on the victim as being "nothing more than a criminal".

Then a few hours later they updated the piece to mention that he was honorably discharged from the US Coast Guard, he was engaged, and he was a father of four. They also removed the personal fluffy info about the cop.

Even in the UK he was being described as a criminal first, and then only "Humanized" later, while the cop was being portrayed as a dedicated police officer.

I dread to think how the subtleties are being reported in the US where a uniform is a license to kill without consequence and the victim is quickly dragged through the dirt to justify their murder.

This is how it seems to go in the US though, isn't it? It took less than 24 hours before the PR campaign against Michael Brown started, listing every encounter he ever had with any cop, while Wilson was being painted as the "perfect white boy" serving his community with honor and heroism!

Again, America is such a f-ed up country when it comes to race, and policing. You need massive change, and you needed it 20 years ago. Hopefully we'll now see a repeat of what's happening in Ferguson all across the country, with more members of the black community being elected to important positions and able to hold police to account for their actions.

originally posted by: Rocker2013

originally posted by: Quetzalcoatl14

originally posted by: roadgravel
I wonder how this will be spun in order to justify the shooting. Killed over a broken tail light. If he was being arrested, is there some outstanding warrant. What ever happened to tickets...

The NY Times reports that the suspect ran from the traffic stop possibly due to a standing order on back child support. That doesn't justify, of course, lethal force by the officer.

But that's just the problem with American thinking when it comes to police, too many idiots DO think that's deserving of execution. In the minds of many Americans, unless you bow down to a man in a police uniform and lick his boots clean like a good little pleb, you're "asking for it".

I used to chuckle at Cartman and his catchphrase "you will respect my authoritah!" but it's an absolutely correct portrayal of idiotic American policing. You have so many bully cops with daddy issues wearing a uniform, people who are more interested in being seen as a "hero" than actually serving their community, and far too many who are more than okay about ending someones life, just for challenging their authority.

You have put these people on such a high pedestal they can literally murder people in the street and get away with it, no need to have the courts, no need to have judges and juries, no need to prove anything, just give them all a gun and a badge and tell them their backs are covered. An excuse can be used to shoot dead someone and it's covered up by their corrupt police department - because they all just want to be heroes after all, one little shooting of one "thug ******" shouldn't put an end to that!

With all the unjust murders you have seen on camera committed by out of control police officers, just imagine how many hundreds of thousands there have been all across the country, never seen on video, never getting to an indictment, officers never being held accountable for their actions because their PD bosses conveniently mislaid the paperwork, or had a quiet word with a witness, or took out their victim when no one was around to witness it.

I would not respect any American cop who is not calling for a complete overhaul of American policing. If they are not calling for that, they are part of the problem. You cannot possibly work in that public service without seeing the problems for yourself, and if they are not calling for change they do not deserve to be in that job.

I think that you are referring to a lot of conservatives. Most liberals do not think that way about the police. A lot of hyper conservatives seem to have that psychological variable of authoritarianism, which is one reason that they are so supportive of the police and police powers. This is highly ironic, given their claims to want "small government."

While I get the points you are making generally, I would suggest not stereotyping in your language all Americans. Many more are awake here than you think.

a reply to: alienjuggalo

Wow, just despicable. What are these police officers trained for ? Seriously, he couldn't catch this kid? He was running so slow and had to hop the fence to get away. He's rather just murder someone? Inexcusable.

a reply to: NYCUltra

Seriously, he couldn't catch this kid?

It is worse than that.
The murdered man was overweight and 50 years old.
There was another officer waiting on him if he had made it to the fence.

Hello Ats, it's been a long, nice to see you guys again but I would like to comment on this, has anyone notice at the beginning of the video on pause you see the young man reaching or pushing the taser away in the officer's hand? During those critical seconds, he shot the kid in the back as he ran away.

Now why would the officer attempted to plant his duty issued taser next to the body for false evidence? Because he freaked out and feared for his "safety" not (life). The male attempting to grab the officer's taser doesn't justify deadly force as he was running away however, if he was able to take the officer's taser away from him and use it against the officer then the officer has the legal justifiable right to use deadly force.

The officer really mucked up and will pay for what he has done. The person recording the video must have edited it to the point where the OIS begin. I would like to see the entire video submitted into evidence.