Now an LEO is charged with murder here...

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rwsmith

rwsmith

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North Charleston SC. Traffic stop and a tussle started. The officer used his stun gun but the perp fought him for it, then ran off. The officer shot him while he was running away. Fired 8 shots. The officer is now charged with murder. What would proper procedure have been for this? Can the LEOs here shed some light on this?
 
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From what some of my Police friends have said about this type if shooting (not this case) is that it's a big no no. The perp would have to be Manson, Dahmer, Bundy all rolled into one and you'd know that if he got away he'd kill again. That's about the only time it's ok.

Basically you have a killer or terrorist who has killed and is certain to kill again then you are basically left with the only option. ...to shoot
 
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I was not there however after watching the full video 4 times it would be almost impossible to defend that officers decision. To shoot an unarmed suspect in the back 8 times while running away is just wrong! Especially for a broken tail light!

I can't imagine what the hell that officer was thinking but he will have plenty of time to think about it in jail.
 
It began as a traffic stop.

The mayor of the town seemed to think it was a very unfortunate call by the officer.

I suppose the whole story will come out in court. Sure looked like a bad shooting, though.
 
According to the news reports I've seen, this started as a traffic stop for a taillight. Why on earth did the victim bolt??? And what on earth made that officer shoot him??? There is much more to this story than we've seen or heard so far, and I hope some clarification is forthcoming, as nobody's actions so far make any sense.

When my sons started driving, I told them that if they were ever stopped by the police, the first thing to do is put their windows down and keep their hands on the top of the steering wheel with their fingers splayed out so the officer would have no reason to feel threatened.

I told them not to do or say anything until the officer approached and told them what to do, and that they were then to do it without argument.

I specifically told each of them that if a cop told him to get out of the car, and stand on his head and whistle, then he should do that...and we would straighten it out later.

Very, very foolhardy to run from the police...you never know what the cop chasing you is capable of, or what he might do in the heat of the moment.
 
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It's unfortunate that the video doesn't show the two persons involved until right before the shots, but after watching it several times, I find it very difficult to put any spin on it that would look good for the cop. Calm deliberate shooting like at the range, at the back of a guy who is quite clearly not a threat to him, then he looks around, then calmly walks over talking into his radio. Then the business of dropping the item next to the suspect. I hope there's more to this, but....
 
They said he was running/ fleeing because he did not want to go to jail for unpaid child support. If the other person would not have filmed this then it would have swept under the rug. Like has been said the officer will have a lot of time to think about it.
 
rwsmith said:
Yes, the case looks bad for the officer, but why would they post a video that starts right when's shooting? Surely they got more than that.
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Possibly not. It's an amateur video, shot with a cell phone. While someone's reactions might be quick and their intent is to quickly capture something on video, phones are often slow to activate. On my iPhone, I have to swipe to activate the phone, then hit the camera icon, then swipe again to switch to video mode, then hit the "record" button...all the while trying to maintain the camera's field of view. It isn't an instantaneous process. All that is a relatively easy process, but it still takes a few seconds to get it going. You can miss a lot in a few seconds.
 
James&theGiant1911 said:
They said he was running/ fleeing because he did not want to go to jail for unpaid child support. If the other person would not have filmed this then it would have swept under the rug. Like has been said the officer will have a lot of time to think about it.
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Even without video, it would be difficult to 'splane shooting someone in the back. He could always claim he thought he saw the perp reaching for a weapon.
 
I think it might well be a justifiable shooting under the Garner standard, as the fleeing man qualified as a danger to the community. In fact, I think it a politicized tragedy that the officer has been treated this way.

The fleeing guy fought the officer, resisted him, fought off being Tazed, and then stole the officer's Tazer and had it in hand while fleeing initially.

As for eight times being shot, well you shoot as many times as you need to.

If the guy had not attacked the policeman, fought him, and stole his Tazer and then fled..he would not have been shot. The bad thing is not that a criminal was killed, but in the way the policeman is being treated and villified in the media.
 
From just what I saw I hope this cop gets life or even the death penalty, no human should be shot like this, that cop looked cool as a cucumber and to put 8 rounds in him, I see no way to justify that shooting.
 
I saw a video yesterday (cell phone recorded, there was a tree in the way and you couldn't see everything that was going on) and it looks terrible.

The suspect ran off and not even that fast. There were no verbal commands and the LEO didn't even try to chase the suspect. He just drew his gun and fired. The LEO seemed to be very cool/relaxed about it.

Murder charge sounds about right to me.
 
So we should look askance at the officer for being well trained and calm? The runner still had the Tazer probes in him. He shrugged off the less lethal means of restraining him and stole it. What was chasing him supposed to accomplish? Clear and present threat to the community.
 
What I see is Walter Scott does not appear to be in the best of shape and the officer could have easily run him down on foot. The shooting does not appear to be a defense or dire need. He could have just followed him if he didn't think he could take him in a physical confrontation. I suspect the officer knew if he was armed other than the taser he got from the officer.

Where is Holder and Sharpton on this one?
 
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The Man was shot is the back eight times to stop Him from running? What was His Capital Offense? Not paying Child Support and a Traffic Violation?
Why did He run? Maybe He had good reason to do so but unless there is Audio of the entire incident We will never know for sure.
The evidence points to Murder so the Courts will decide the Officers fate if it gets that far.
 
All I can figure is that when the victim got the cop's Taser, the cop must have been focusing on that fact as he drew his weapon. (I would be thinking the Taser could be used on me to disable me, and the fact the other guy had it would be cause for me to draw my gun as a means an allowable level of force escalation.) (Edit: accounts say the cop had used the Taser already on the subject, so I don't think it could have been deployed again, against the cop, but I'm not sure in the heat of the moment if that entered the cop's mind); It seems strange that the guy who grabbed the Taser would immediately run off with it, though -- and that's, I think, what led to the shooting. The cop must still have been processing the fact that the "bad guy" had his Taser, and focused on that instead of the fact that the guy was now running away instead of turning the Taser on him.

The cop made a huge mistake by firing on a fleeing "felon" (if that's what he was by then, depending on what had happened during the previous struggle.) I think the cop was on auto-pilot from the time he drew until he finished firing. (Eight rounds sounds bad, but they were quick rounds, and I don't fault that part of the cop's actions, because yes, you use deadly force until the subject is down and no longer a threat.)

The cop was completely wrong in the situation. I don't know if a murder charge is warranted, but at least manslaughter. It was a tragic incident, and regardless of other incidents that have happened recently, shows how a single bad day or lapse of concentration or judgment by an LEO can have terrible consequences. I'm not defending the cop; I'm just saying that I appreciate what LEO's do, and can understand human shortcomings that, in a situation like that, are tragic for all concerned.
 
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I'll wait on making any judgement until all the facts are known. However, at first glance it does not bode well for the shooter.The Officer will be judged in the courts - we cannot know everything at this early stage of the investigation. He may need O.J.'s team of legal beagles.:eek:
 
Anyone have a link to an unedited version of the video. I've tried watching what the news puts up but they butcher it so badly I now know less than I did.
 
jbull380 said:
Anyone have a link to an unedited version of the video. I've tried watching what the news puts up but they butcher it so badly I now know less than I did.
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You need to see the one where the cop handcuffs him and then runs back to pick up his taser to plant it near the dead guy, right there the cop new he was "DEAD" wrong, I'm sure he never thought he was being filmed.
 
This one is unedited. [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg3GrfR2wiQ[/ame]
 
allthumbs said:
You need to see the one where the cop handcuffs him and then runs back to pick up his taser to plant it near the dead guy, right there the cop new he was "DEAD" wrong, I'm sure he never thought he was being filmed.
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That's exactly the way it looks. I wonder how many LEO shootings like like this occur that weren't filmed and never questioned.
 
RalphMP9FS said:
That's exactly the way it looks. I wonder how many LEO shootings like like this occur that weren't filmed and never questioned.
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Watching that video multiple times the guy never had the taser, the cop flips it behind himself then shoots the man dead, handcuffs him runs back to retrieve the taser to plant it by the dead man, really how does anyone defend that ?
 
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