The April 4th tragic shooting death of Walter Scott has gone viral and there is a public uproar [once again] in the wake of an unarmed black man dead at the hands of police brutality. A witness recorded cellphone footage of Michael Slager firing 8 shots in the back of 50 year old and surveillance of planted evidence of a ‘stun gun’ by Slager [11 min mark] following the shooting.
In response to black communities being accused of always playing the ‘race’ card Civil Rights Advocate, Van Jones had this to say to CNN:
” The video showed a cold blooded murder and what we saw was a blatant attempt to cover it up, and its not the first time. African American communities have been saying for decades and years that there are two standards of justice. ‘We have to tell our children: you can wound up dead for a minor traffic stop’. Had it not been for the video we would be in a situation where the police report would have said, this was a violent black man who was threatening my life, [which they always say] and I feared for my life, [because that’s the legal standard]. Had it not been for the video this would of been another justifiable death of a black man.“
” Because of the video, my concern is that people begin to believe that he police report is an absolute statement from God himself about what happened when in fact officers are taught to put information in a police report ‘I feared for my life’. Even in this situation like this that its obvious that he might’ve of been angry but there’s no way he thought a guy running away from him was a threat to his life. “
The autopsy reports concludes that Scott received five shots in the back, two in the buttocks, and one in the ear. Scott and passenger friend was pulled over by police for a broken tail light. Officer Slager obtains Scott license, and went back into his vehicle to verify the registration of the mercedes benz vehicle that Scott was driving in. Seconds later, Scott is seen fleeing from the vehicle.
One commenter wrote:
” It’s kind of comical that he took off running like that, but I don’t get why the cop even bothered to chase him. The cop had his license and that’s all he needed to track him down in the future. My guess is that Mr. Scott wasn’t the smartest cookie in the cookie jar, and neither is the cop. Two idiots, and one of them had a deadly weapon. Guess the outcome… “
Civil Liberties attorney, Alan Dershowitz also issued a valid point in response to racial profiling accusations in this case.
” No policeman can justify shooting a man in the back this way. But I think we have to distinguish two things, was it racial and was it a homicide? Clearly it was a homicide, but the traffic stop may have been racially motivated. White people don’t often get stopped for a taillight. Did the policeman shoot him because he was black, or did he shoot him because he was police man and he had a gun and authority and then covered it up [because policeman do that sometimes even if its a white person]. So, we have to withhold judgment on the racial element of the actual killing in itself.”
New audio has surfaced of Slager speaking with another officer [who informs him of the next steps to come including the adrenaline rush of it all] and Slager laughs about his adrenaline rush just moments after the shooting. Take a listen below:
Stay Tuned PLUM’s!