An op-ed of mine to appear in Sunday’s Washington Post:
This one is different.
Walter Scott was killed — shot multiple times in the back — by North Charleston, S.C., police officer Michael Slager last weekend. Scott, already running away, was no threat to the officer when the first shot was fired. He was even less of a threat when Slager paused and fired the eighth and final round.
To non-police, Scott’s death may look familiar: Not even a year after Eric Garner died during an arrest in Staten Island, N.Y., and Michael Brown died in a police shooting in Ferguson, Mo., here was another black man killed by police.
But to law enforcement officers observing the North Charleston tragedy, the case is nothing like “another Ferguson” — and that’s where the police perspective and the civilian perspective on these events diverge.
Click through to keep reading.
I read the whole thing, and thanks. What I don't see addressed is motivation, which has to be the cop's anger at being thwarted. As a person who has spent some small time in adversarial situations, I'm truly grateful that I was never burdened with a Glock and the presumption of righteousness most cops must feel.
Have you seen the San Bernardino beating? Not fatal but man, another one for the old cringe file. Thanks a lot there deputies.
latimes.com/local/la-me-ln-san-bernardino-county-sheriffs-deputies-beat-man-after-horse-pursuit-20150410-htmlstory.html
I still can't get over they were chasing a man on horseback.
California police shoot a lot more people than police in New York or Jersey. A lot more. Like five times as many. I have a post on it soon.
But there seems to be something very different out there going on.
I can't delve into the the cop's mind. Maybe he's an otherwise wonderful person. Maybe he's a psychopath. I don't know.
But yeah, I'm sure at least one thought went through his mind, "this motherfucking isn't getting away." He didn't. And now the cop in jail charged with murder.
I don't think this one is different. Everything is the same except that circumstances (including the existence of the video) dictate prosecution. This one is very similar to many other "justified" shootings; it just turned out different for the cop.