It doesn't matter what happened before the video. As THIS video shows, the guy was running away and the cop WAS NOT in danger whatsoever. Seriously, 8 shots to the back of a guy running away from you? That's murder, plain and simple.
to your last sentence: Idk about ever seen. Thats a strong statement as history has unfortunately shown us some pretty horrible examples over the years of unwarranted use of deadly force, but yes, I agree with everything else you say here and the point you are making. Just wanted to be fair to history.
I have never in my life ever seen video evidence of police malfeasance as egregious as that. Rodney King was a pillow fight by comparison. Guys getting beaten to death with night sticks looked like John Bonham by comparison. _
There simply is no unreasonable rush to judgement in this case, though. The only scenario where what is unseen could justify the shooting, IMO, would be if the victim had attacked the cop with a deadly weapon like a knife or gun, then tried to flee. If that is what happened off camera then, yes, this shooting was justified because he is not just an unarmed motorist resisting the cop. But the witness who recorded the video said nothing of the sort occurred.
13.2% of the United States is black. 39.4% of the United States prison population is black circa 2009.
And 34.2% of prison population are non-Hispanic whites, same year. If you're citing stats, cite all stats.
So what does that mean? Blacks commit prison worthy crimes at a significant disparity than their percentage of the population? That's a damn shame. How do we get them to change that?
Just watched video for the 4th time, this time slo mo key parts. IMO this is a premeditated murder with subsequent attempt to plant false evidence. I don't know (or care) why the cop decided to off the guy, but I saw absolutely nothing that would even suggest the victim was any threat to the PO or anyone around. Prosecutors will ask for DP, defense might be able to cut it down to 25 to life. Frankly, for this cop DP might be easier. Cops get rough deal in prison anyway; this cop will spend the rest of his life in solitary for his own protection.
Now for Junk, the answer to his "trump" "innocent don't run from cops" card. There are many reasons why the victim HAD to run. For example, the cop said: "Give me blow job now or I put 5 bullets in you." The victim was NOT resisting arrest at the time of shooting, thus was a free man, thus free to choose to jog toward the cop or away from the cop. In essence you're advocating allowing a cop to shoot anyone who chose to exercise their freedom of movement. Your position is biased and unfounded.
If you are going to try to show up junc you can't make worse arguments than what you are claiming he is. When cops pull you over and are investigating whatever it is they pulled you over for you are not free to just do as you please. Otherwise there wouldn't be charges such as evading police. You haven't been arrested so you are free to run away? What a joke.
The biggest issue here is the law in the South Carolina which is pretty clear when it comes to "stand your ground" or castle doctrine. At no point in the video is the officer's life in danger therefore the cop cannot shoot the man in the back. All stand your ground laws are fairly similar in that regard, shooting someone in the back is illegal. The moment your life is no longer in danger you lose the right to kill the person threatening you. We know the dead person is unarmed, we can also see by the movements of the officer following the shooting he did not suffer any life threatening injuries. Even if the now deceased attempted to steal the officers taser previous to being shot the moment he turns to run away he is no longer in a threatening position so the officer did not follow the law or his own training. This was taken from a South Carolina law page regarding what they call PPPA or Protection of Persons and Property Act "The protections of “Stand Your Ground” extend outside of a home and vehicle also. If you aren’t engaged in unlawful activity, and you are attacked, you can “stand your ground” and meet the attack with force, including deadly force, if you reasonably believe that your force is necessary to protect you or someone else from death or great bodily injury or to prevent the commission of a violent crime. You don’t have a duty to retreat. This protection applies in public, such as on a sidewalk or at the mall, or at your business."
The question is does Stand Your Ground apply to cops when in the course if their duty? I doubt it; Cops have a separate set of standards that applies to their use of deadly force in the execution of their duties.
No argument will work with Junc. And yes, if I'm not under arrest, I'm free to leave. DMV regulations have no relevance here. Outside talking to a cop all I need to do is ask "Officer, are you arresting me?". If the answer is "No", I have no obligation to continue the conversation and am free to leave.
That is for a civilian, it is a little different for a police officer. The fleeing felon rule gives some latitude in the respect that if the fleeing person poses a significant physical danger to the officer or others in the community then he could actually shoot him in the back to prevent further harm. This case does not at all appear to meet that criteria though as he was not wanted for any violent crime, just a traffic infraction and back child support.
If the PO is not arresting the person, the cop is JAG. You don't have to talk to him any more than you would have to talk to a random stranger. Just to be clear, I would not turn away from a cop. I personally believe that one should assist POs when they are asking. But we are not talking about personal believes here. This guys didn't want to talk to the cop and had every right to leave.
That's simply not true. Police can detain you for a reasonable amount of time while they investigate whatever it is they need to to determine whether you should be arrested or cited. The concept that absent of being arrested you can just ignore a cop is by far the dumbest assertion made in this thread.
77.7% of the U.S. is white So less than half of the total Caucasian population is represented in the U.S. prison population, and the black prison population is 3X more than the total U.S. black population. Correlation seems Statistically Significant. This doesn't justify this senseless murder, but it does show that more often than not racial profiling is not the main driver in police interaction with blacks. It's the numbers.
If you want to add detaining as an addition to arresting, fine. The point remains: if cop is not exercising his power to arrest (or detain) me, I have no obligation to talk to him.
I was not arguing for or against the officer, actually I was more AGAINST him. all I have said is I like to wait until al the evidence is out. is there something wrong w/ that? wait so you get pulled over and ask if you are being arrested and if the officer says no you can run away? interesting. the new video shows he fled from the scene, does that give the officer the right to kill him? No but again if he just complies w/ the officer he doesn't put his life on the line. the guilt of the officer is a different argument do please don't confuse the 2. he was pulled over, he has to remain at the scene until the officer lets him go.
