S. Carolina Officer in #WalterScott Murder

UPDATE: April 9

Police have released the dash cam footage from Officer Slager’s police car during the stop before Scott took off running. The footage shows Scott pulling into an Advanced Auto Parts parking lot at Slager’s instruction. He goes on to discuss the car with Slager–which he said he was borrowing and planning to buy from a friend, that he did not have the registration information and would also buy insurance the following Monday. He handed him his driver’s license and while Slager was in his vehicle Scott ran. Though the action goes off frame, you hear Slager yelling “taser!” multiple times. The footage may or may not affect the proceedings or at least the talk around it from this point forward. Click for more and to see the footage.

Eerily you can hear “What It’s Like” playing in the background of the police car as Slager engages with Scott. CNN and Mass Appeal report on the latest and the first look we’re seeing from before the shooting. Check out that dash cam footage police just made available:

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UPDATE: April 8

With footage of Walter Scott being gunned down by South Carolina police officer Michael T. Slager released, things are heating up pretty fast. South Charleston mayor, announces that Slager is “terminated and gone” from the force.

In an attempt to begin the bounce back process, Summey also let it be known that Scott’s eight-month pregnant wife will receive health insurance up until she births her child [four weeks … two weeks, maybe] and that there will be 150 police body cameras for city officers in addition to the already 101 the city had planned.

ORIGINAL: April 7

Obviously we’re not making as much progress as we thought: South Carolina Police Officer Charged In Murder of Unarmed Man #WalterScott (RIP). The African-American man was allegedly running away when the Caucasian police officer shot him EIGHT TIMES in the back and body. Michael Skolknik of GlobalGrind reports the FBI has opened a simultaneous investigation along with the murder of DJ Henry (RIP) who was shot by Pleasantville, NY police in 2010. The Department of Justice just announced no civil rights charges against the cop who killed him.

#BlackLivesMatter is not a drill nor a rehearsal. In the latest string of senseless and disturbing shootings by police comes the name Walter Scott. Officer Michael T. Slager age 33 is facing murder charges for being the South Carolina Police Officer Charged In Murder of Unarmed Man in Charleston. What’s got the world buzzing even more than the actual death is the video fearlessly shot by an ordinary citizen who took off on foot after the officer, capturing the action vividly.

The New York Times and multiple sources report the South Carolina Police Officer Charged In Murder of Unarmed Man not only shot Walter Scott from behind eight times but also proceeded to handcuff his dead body. The Twitter-verse is on 1,000 as the video is making its rounds on the inter-web and media platforms are releasing it for all to see. Many are calling it an execution though Officer Slager reportedly says he “feared for his life.” Walter was reportedly stopped for a broken tail light–Slager says the tides turned when Walter “took his stun-gun in a scuffle” though it’s obvious he ended up running.

Many are outraged at the cover-ups and lies that have been told including Officer Slager and his partner planting* the weapon as well as saying they administered CPR on Walter which they did not. People are also outraged that the arrest and conviction has come only after* the video has surfaced, noting the facts of the case were the same before this point. As well, the descriptions of the two are stark in contrast. Slager is being described along his ‘career service bio’ while the now deceased Walter Scott is spoken of against his legal rap sheet in much of mainstream media.

The South Carolina Police Officer Charged In Murder of Unarmed Man is however unlike many of the cases we’ve seen because of the actual murder conviction. Sleeping 7 year old Aiyana Jones, playground victim Tamir Rice, Brooklyn staircase victim Akai Gurley, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin and a slew of others had not seen nearly as swift if any progress in that direction. Details still developing.

RIP

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