# US Police Officer Gets Murder Charge



## Kim Chee (Apr 8, 2015)

Sometimes great injustices happen before great change takes place.
Officer's lies are uncovered in a video which doesn't.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-32213482

Mr Scott's family have welcomed the officer's arrest, as Alastair Leithead reports

A white South Carolina police officer has been charged with murder after video emerged of him shooting a black man running away from him.

State investigators arrested North Charleston police officer Michael Slager on Tuesday after viewing the mobile phone video of the shooting.

Authorities say victim Walter Lamer Scott was shot after the officer had already targeted him with a stun gun.

The US Department of Justice is set to launch an investigation.

"When you're wrong, you're wrong," North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey said, announcing the arrest. "When you make a bad decision, I don't care if you're behind the shield or a citizen on the street, you have to live with that decision."

Police officers in the US fatally shoot and kill hundreds of people each year, but only a handful of cases result in the officer facing criminal charges.







North Charleston police officer Michael Slager was arrested on Tuesday
The incident on Saturday began after Scott's car was stopped for having a broken rear light, local media reported.

A video of the incident published by the New York Times shows a brief scuffle before Scott begins running away. The video then shows the officer firing several shots at Scott, who falls to the ground.

The Post and Courier newspaper of Charleston reported that Mr Scott had been arrested about 10 times, mostly for failing to pay child support or show up for court hearings.

Mr Scott's brother, Anthony, told the Post and Courier that he believed his brother fled from Mr Slager because he owed child support.

Anthony Scott said that because of the video, "we have received the truth" and "through the process, justice has been served".

Chris Stewart, a lawyer for Scott's family, called the passer-by who recorded the video a "hero".

The shooting occurred as heightened scrutiny is being placed on police officer shootings, particularly those that involve white officers and unarmed black suspects.

A grand jury declined to indict Ferguson, Missouri officer Darren Wilson over the fatal shooting of Michael Brown last August, leading to nationwide protests.

Dorothy Williams, a Charleston city councillor, told CNN the community had remained calm in this case because Officer Slager was charged so quickly.

US police: Controversial recent killings

April 2015: Walter Lamer Scott, 50, is shot eight times in South Carolina as he runs away from Officer Michael Slager. Mr Scott dies at the scene. The shooting is captured on video and Mr Slager is charged with murder.

December 2014: Jerame Reid, 36, is shot dead during a routine traffic stop in New Jersey. An officer claims Mr Reid was reaching for a gun, but video footage seems to suggest he was attempting to step out of the car, hands raised.

November 2014: Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy, is shot dead in a playground by Cleveland police after a local resident reports he is pointing a gun at passers by. The gun turns out to be a toy. A grand jury will decide whether police will face charges.

August 2014: Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old, is shot dead by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. The shooting leads to protests, first in Ferguson and later nationwide. A grand jury decides not to charge Mr Wilson.

July 2014: Eric Garner, an asthma sufferer, is stopped by police in New York and placed in a chokehold after refusing to be handcuffed. He dies despite repeatedly telling officers he cannot breathe. No police are charged.

March 2014: James Boyd, an unarmed homeless man camping in Alberquerque, is shot dead by two officers. Video of the incident leads prosecutors to say the officers acted with "deliberate intention" and they are charged.


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## Art101 (Apr 8, 2015)

Saw the video this morning pretty grim.Cop shot 5-6 rounds before he dropped.NYC news channel said the officer may have planted the tazer on the victim afterwards.


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## ChrisA (Apr 8, 2015)

I saw the news story and the dude getting show in the Tallahassee shelter. You should have seen the anger of all the people. There's a 80/20 mix of black people and white people. I think the news just wanted to stir things up with some cheap heat.


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## Kim Chee (Apr 8, 2015)

Ghostbo said:


> Saw the video this morning pretty grim.Cop shot 5-6 rounds before he dropped.NYC news channel said the officer may have planted the tazer on the victim afterwards.



I saw the two videos. They do show the Officer dropping something and don't show the Officer rendering first aid (which he supposedly claimed he performed).


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## creature (Apr 8, 2015)

this fucking post is intentionally left blank...


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## Odin (Apr 8, 2015)

@7xMichael aka mm7.... I don't think its confusing...(your above rating) its a post of silence. Silence for victims... silence for being dumbfounded at what is going on in law enforcement and those who take authority even with the ghost of a wish to kill...pun intended ::rage:: ...

(In my opinion the hero cops are those in country's that have coppers that walk the beat with nothing more than a baton and pepper spray.. .that's a hero) 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...cers-do-not-carry-firearms-and-it-works-well/

... .... silence... when you are at a loss of speech...


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## Kim Chee (Apr 8, 2015)

@Odin, I get it now. Most people are using words to react to what has been happening lately. If silence was the answer I should have not posted the artical.

I'll remove the "???"


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## Odin (Apr 8, 2015)

7xMichael said:


> @Odin, I get it now. Most people are using words to react to what has been happening lately. If silence was the answer I should have not posted the artical.
> 
> I'll remove the "???"




I don't think you should not have posted the article... I saw this on the news as well today... and it needs attention here as well... just saying... creature posted silence in a figurative way. So I get it... its like doing imagination with a concept. Silence is not something you can see literally... but you can see it in a forum post... or figuratively in a vision or artistic description... creatures post illustrates it... there is more freedom of expression in some forms of communication... like manipulating font and text to show... subtext in a forum post.

Anyway... more of this kind of attention needs to be spotlighted on our countries law enforcement.

The police it seems need to remember that MIGHT is not RIGHT.

Just cuz you have the power of life and death does not make you the ultimate arbiter of the use of that force. And if you cannot use that force with extreme caution, discernment and compassion... you should not dare wield it.


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## Kim Chee (Apr 9, 2015)

Odin said:


> The police it seems need to remember that MIGHT is not RIGHT.



Shooting that guy in the back was the weakest thing I've seen in awhile, right up until the officer started lying about what he just did. Then that became the weakest thing I last saw. Just a trail of weakness dragging that uniform around.


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## creature (Apr 9, 2015)

Odin, thanks..

yeah..

it is an old, old saying, but some things are beyond words..

some things cannot be said because of what their truth shall cause one to commit to..


& speaking generally?

i don't know where the breaking point is..

i don't know when we begin to flood out of the trenches, & frankly?
i don't want to be around..

the individuals whom have been so hell bent on aligning the law enforcement, judicial & economic systems of this nation towards their version of privileged elitism, affluence & process deserve every fucking piece of tragedy they happen to become subject to...

the only thing i worry for are their children, who haven't had the time to make the choice as to whether their parents are assholes who should be:
- disowned (the people who desire money at whatever expense there is to those they extract it from)
- loved, but understood to be disappointingly misguided (thinking that this cultural system works, & that people 'earn' their disproportionate accumulations of *machine based* industrial and technical production)
- or who need to be turned away from, if they are just generally indifferent to what humanity is approaching..

i worry for *everyone* who either wants to change shit towards fairness, or who wants to Get The Fuck Out, & frankly?
rather than give these assholes what they deserve?

try and make it day to day, because when we finally *are* backed into a corner?

i think God will enter us with a rage & vengeance that will leave our bullet riddled corpses snapping at the necks of out executioners like schools of dying piranhas, seeking to take just *one* last, fatal bite out of the assholes that put them down..

i don't want to be there..

if these shitheads push us to where we are like that, well.. make sure you know how to find fucking water.



i am going to tell you what may be one of the final resolutions of human existence..

The meek will Inherit the Earth

because the violent shall kill each other off.


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## Jaguwar (Apr 13, 2015)

Also, some of you will enjoy this commentary on the whole thing.

Transcript here


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## Jaguwar (Apr 13, 2015)

That may be true, but there is always a need for warriors, at the appropriate time. Evil triumphs where good people remain silent, or something like that. 
The quiet ones are needed too, as long as they find a niche to fight in, perhaps helping to rebuild; otherwise the rest of the fighters are dying for a bunch of pussies, and that's really not worth fighting and dying for.


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## creature (Apr 13, 2015)

those who are *not* warriors, at the appropriate time, are bystanders & indoctrinees....


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## creature (Apr 13, 2015)

one of my heroes has this to say:

http://www.dailykos.com/blog/Tom Tomorrow/

you shall love officer friendly, or you shall die.


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## creature (Apr 13, 2015)

we all know what we really *should* do...


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## creature (Apr 13, 2015)

so maybe i am no fucking warrior..


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## creature (Apr 13, 2015)

& goddamn, if i can get another high dollar job, i am buying a fucking boat...


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## creature (Apr 13, 2015)

i think, really, that history & evolution are showing that fighting is not the means by which final equality shall be acquired..

as i have said, & may be dearly wrong about, the meek will inherit the earth after the violent kill each other off.

humanity, with all its intelligence, has not had to go through a major, world-wide ecological collapse since the advent of the discovery of the wheel, & arguably since the controlled use of fire...

if there is a fucking God, it is at least tempering us so that people who know how to share are able to share when the hammer strikes the metal of peace, it is for what is hopefully one last fucking time...

& the last fucking strike may be a fucking *huge* one..

the meek will die in droves..
because justice, clearly, is not omnipotent, but is at best, a thing weighted by the conditions in which it is allowed to exist..

the meek will die in fucking droves...

they will be abused, enslaved, killed, tortured, burned & their corpses fucking discarded..

fuck zombies..

we have fucking people.

the thing is, though, that those whom fight to *not fight* are the ones whom may flourish after all is done..


it is not fair.

it is not comforting.

it is not spiritual.

it is not metaphysical.

it is a thing of *chance*.

& although at any given instant, it provides no individual power which can extend an opposition to whatever forces may overwhelm the goodness & love & strength of any individual, up to, including & beyond jesus christ, buddah, your most fucking amazing friend or even the wishes of an omniscient God whom is not omnipotent..

the ones whom strive & work & flee to avoid the conclusion of rising up & killing all the motherfuckers who fuck things up so greatly that they *deserve* to ****die upon sight****..

the ones who are tired of what history demands of us, because humans are so, so, so, so, *so* willing to kill others whom disagree with them..

we may be left fucking behind,

& i have to tell you.. 

that is pretty well much fucking fine by me..

if god is going to take you fucking rightwing-conservative-hatefull-fuck bastards before he takes *us*,

i am all fucking for it..

if yaweh is a man of war, i will kill him myself.

if Yahew.. YHWH.. 

& i will be glad for however the mechanics of the universe change, after that.

& i suspect even jesus would be ok with that...


i am sick of men of war.


i am sick of assholes who can't wash their fucking dishes because they know someone else will, if they shit in a pile that others will clean..

& so what it takes to be a warrior

is to simply do what amount of faith you have allows you to do..

& after that, just hope you fucking die, rather than be forced to betray what you love most..

jesus said "pray your flight is in the spring" or some such..

i say "pray you fucking die, before you are forced to make the choice between living & what you love".


man.. i am hoping, more than anything, that the crash is caused by something beyond our control...


because if it ends up in revolution or war, & it is a free for all, & i have to do shit to keep kevin & matt from taking live fire, i want that shit to happen *before* the copper jackets start flying..

we had brothers killing brothers back in the 1860's..

& although it might have done *something*, it didn't fix the problem of people selling each other because selling people could get the people who sold people what they wanted..

"my desire is more important than your freedom"

& that is the anthem of human injustice since we were big fucking monkeys beating up little fucking monkeys...

it is, arguably, the entire fucking anthem of life..

it is *not* however, the anthem of love.


& that is the fucking choice...


maybe... *****maybe******


it is the very fact that there *is* a fucking choice before us that indicates there is something deeper than merely life going on..


i dunno..

but if there isn't?

our chances of being entirely fucked are all that much more the greater..

the only thing worse than *physical* bullies beating up on those whom they are able to
are fucking *intellectual* bullies.. because *those* motherfuckers are the ones who *really* know how to figure out how to hurt people...


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