Police release dashcam footage of traffic stop that led to fatal Walter Scott shooting

[arcane1]

Authorities in South Carolina released dashcam footage from North Charleston police Officer Michael Slager’s patrol car capturing the moments before he shot and killed 50-year-old Walter Scott, WIS-TV reported.

The nearly four-minute-long tape begins with Slager asking Scott about his car after pulling him over last Saturday. Scott tells Slager he plans on buying the car, but does not have paperwork or insurance for it at the moment.

Slager then returns to his patrol car and can be heard telling Scott to stay in his car. Two-and-a-half minutes into the video, Scott leaves the car and runs out of the frame. Slager can be heard running after him and calling into his dispatcher’s office. The audio becomes increasingly choppy, but Slager can be heard ordering Scott to “get on the ground.”

Video at link:


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/04/watch-police-release-dashcam-footage-of-traffic-stop-that-led-to-fatal-walter-scott-shooting/

[libdem4life]

1. So,did it turn out to be a stolen car? Not excusing the death penalty, but will likely come out. n/t

[Lurks Often]

2. Even if he was an alleged car thief, that is not sufficient legal justification for the shooting

Legally, there are a few situations where shooting someone in the back is justified:
The short version, is that someone is legally justified shooting someone in the back if the person fleeing can reasonably be considered a grave menace to the general public if allowed to escape. For example, preventing someone who just murdered someone right in front you from escaping, would be probably be considered reasonable in a courtroom.

A fairly extreme example, it would have almost certainly been legally acceptable to shoot Loughner in the back while he was shooting at all those people in AZ.

Hostage rescue would be another example when it would be considered legally acceptable.

There is ZERO evidence that Slager was justified in shooting Scott in the back

[onecaliberal]

3. ^^^^ That

No justification.

[freshwest]

4. And in some of the frames of the shooting, Slager wasn't even chasing. He stood and took aim from a

distance. The only way for him to get out of the charges is a plea of mental incapacity or having a psychotic break. The dead man should not be put on trial!!

[onecaliberal]

6. I can't watch the video.

It gives me great anguish listening to folks describe it. Why is it that most police officers first thought is to draw their guns and not just shoot, but empty the gun into someone to ensure they die.

[RealityAdvocate]

7. Most? You do realize there are hundreds of thousands of police...

... who go the length of their careers without firing so much as a shot, right?


We have a major problem with police brutality. True. But exaggerating makes that problem worse, not better.

[Logical]

14. True, most cops never fire their gun. It is not that dangerous of a job, so why do they feel the....

need to shoot so quickly?

[RealityAdvocate]

19. Poor training and irrational fear.

[Blue_Roses]

23. so true...

[freshwest]

8. I haven't watched but seen many still shots, and posted one of Slager standing at a distance.

I don't think most LEO's 'first thought' is to tackle problems by shooting, unless they're seriously messed up or immersed in a sick, racist culture at work. Sadly, too many of them are. That's why it's important to out them.

[cwydro]

11. ...

[bullwinkle428]

5. EXACTLY - last time I checked, Darrell Issa is still running around breathing the

same air the rest of us are.

[onecaliberal]

9. In Fresno you can rip off a car and be out of

Jail in two hours. It's no exaggeration. Car theft capital of the country. We have people who've stollen tens of cars and haven't even been sent to prison.

[Logical]

12. Cop should be guilty of 1st degree murder, but do we know why the driver ran? Past experiences......

with the police beating him?

[arcane1]

13. I read here earlier that his family said he's late on child-support payments, and feared arrest.

I'm not sure if that was ever confirmed, though.

[Logical]

15. That makes sense. Panicked, but still no reason to pursue him. You have his damn drivers license.

[arcane1]

18. Exactly n/t

[Blue_Roses]

24. exactly...

Nt

[csziggy]

16. Was there a passenger in Walter Scott's car?

Look at the video at the link in the OP - when Slager walks up, you can see someone's head moving around in the passenger seat. I noticed movement while watching the clip of Scott running away on the Lawrence O'Donnell Show. It's more apparent on the full clip.

I've heard no discussion of anyone else in the car. The only witnesses/participants I have heard about are Walter Scott, Officer Slager, and the gentleman who took the video.

Could some others here look and see if I'm seeing things?

[winstars]

17. They have said there was a passenger but no one sez: WAIT, WHO IS, WHERE IS this person???

Unless I am crazy no "news people" have thought to yell this out!!!!

Really weird days we live in.

[csziggy]

21. So I am not imagining the movement - and it's not a video artifact?

I haven't read all the info on this case - been too busy looking at 60 year old pictures of my family as I scan them.

But I watched the cell phone video and wanted to see what the dashcam added. I was shocked to see movement in the passenger seat!

I wonder who the passenger was - maybe the guy who was selling the car? If so, why didn't he cough up the paperwork the cop was asking for?

[arcane1]

20. I didn't even notice that!

What the hell?

[Ms. Toad]

22. I'm seeing movement - can't tell if it is a passenger,

or seeing someone in front of the car through the passenger window.

[jberryhill]

27. Listen to the radio recordings released yesterday

The passenger is still there when backup arrives.

[csziggy]

29. I hadn't heard about radio recordings - do you have a link?

I'll try to google it, but just in case I can't find them.

[jberryhill]

31. Here

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/national/sc-shooting-police-radio-transmission/2015/04/08/c5765636-de36-11e4-b6d7-b9bc8acf16f7_video.html

They mention the passenger is still there

[csziggy]

33. Thanks - found it and was listening.

[csziggy]

28. I wondered too, but when the white car passes by in front of the Mercedes

The silhouette of the head in the Mercedes is clearer. If the figure is not in the car, it is on the same side of the street. And I can see a figure when the car first turns into the parking lot so that is from a different angle completely.

[Rex]

25. YES! WTF!?!?

There sure is! What the hell!?

[jberryhill]

30. This isn't news

It is mentioned in the radio transmissions

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/national/sc-shooting-police-radio-transmission/2015/04/08/c5765636-de36-11e4-b6d7-b9bc8acf16f7_video.html

[Rex]

32. It must not be, since there was no mention of one in the mainstream media.

I guess that wasn't important?

[jberryhill]

34. Depends on one's definition of "important"

And there are certainly variations of that. Take the mass freak out of "he dropped the taser near the body". Yep, he does. He also picks it up again shortly after that and holsters it. So I'm not sure what the big deal is over that. The cartridge was spent (since it had been used) and a barb was in Scott (since you can see the cartridge trailing him across the grass), so it was clear Slager had fired it.

The important point is him shooting a fleeing unarmed suspect.

Yeah, he was in a car with no registration or insurance, and yeah, there was a passenger.

At the end of the day, if the problem was the tail light then, good golly, I know what would have happened to me - a middle aged white guy. If I would have said, "Hey, we're in the parking lot of a parts store, how about if I run in and get s new bulb" it would have been fine, and would be so in any civilized environment.

The audio is not clear, but I get the impression Scott suggests that at one point, the first time Slager tells him to stay in the car.

[Rex]

35. Damm...that is exactly what would happen to me too.

Actually, I would probably be given a warning since I know most of the cops in this small down.

Yeah it is all about violating that poor man's civil rights. However, you know I am a curious one and wonder what the passenger has to say about all this since he would be a material witness to an alleged murder? Yes?

[jberryhill]

36. If I was advising the passenger...

I'd tell him/her to stay quiet, stay off of TV, and wait for the trial.

You can't see the lot behind the Mega Pawn from there anyway.

(Google street view from the corner of Remont and Craig in North Charleston)

There's s lot of questions one can be curious about - whose car is it? Who tackled whom (since the guy who took the video says they were both on the ground just before he started the camera)? Who is the passenger? Where were they going? Where were they coming from? And so on.

Any of those questions might have unfortunate answers that, ultimately, are a distraction from the fact that Slager shot an unarmed fleeing suspect whose driver's license he already had, and who posed no danger.

So, what if the passenger turns out to be someone who would rather not want it to be known they were in the car with him? Is that anything anyone needs to know? One can imagine all kinds of reasons for that.

Can this person have their privacy kept? Or does this person also deserve a media circus on their doorstep.

The person stayed in the car and wasn't a party to the events between Slager and Scott. It'll all come out eventually.

[jberryhill]

39. As are the two other people you can see running in that direction.

[jberryhill]

26. Yes. If you listen to the radio recordings released yesterday

...the cops that arrive at the parking lot confirm the passenger is still there.

[jberryhill]

37. Something else no one seems to notice

Is that after Scott and Slager take off, there are two other people who run across the lot across Craig Street to see what's going on.

So there are probably two other eyewitnesses.

[csziggy]

40. Behind the shed across the street?

I'll have to watch the video again tomorrow.

[jberryhill]

41. Yeah

There are two people who head quickly in the direction south parallel to Craig Street.

That would put them near the northeast corner of the chain link fence around the lot behind the Mega Pawn - to the left of the view from the cellphone camera.

[gwheezie]

38. the difference I see between the 2 videos

The 1st the cop is professional and neutral. In the 2nd he murdered a man. In the 1st the cop knew the dashcam was on. In the 2nd the cop did not know he was being recorded.