SC officer charged with murder in man's death. Video catches him plant evidence.

[T.Lex]

What compliant motorist has been shot?

Wait. Wasn't that guy who got shot reaching into his car for registration like he'd been ordered to do from S. Carolina, too?

 

[OakRiver]

I don't see anything that justifies this shooting.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Pretty much, yes, we do know that. What compliant motorist has been shot? I sincerely doubt he pulled him over to kill him. Fight or flight changes the dynamics.

I disagree until we know more about the cop.

The victim was pretty compliant, and the officer kept escalating. Did Zimmerman know when Trayvon would stop hitting ... wait, sorry wrong story. Did the victim know when the cop would stop escalating the situation? At what point does your personal safety become more important than complying with someone that's not acting as they should?

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Wait. Wasn't that guy who got shot reaching into his car for registration like he'd been ordered to do from S. Carolina, too?

Link?

 

[T.Lex]

Link?

INGO thread:
https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...er-shoots-man-alleged-seatbelt-violation.html

Dashcam:

Trooper Sean Groubert's dash cam shows shooting of Levar Jones - wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Between the time when he shot and killed Scott early Saturday morning and when charges were filed, Slager — using the both the police department and his attorney — was able to provide his “version” of the events. He appeared well on his way to avoiding charges and pinning the blame on Scott.

Then a video, shot by an anonymous bystander, revealed exactly what happened.

I doubt that the officer would have been charged so quickly if the video didn't exist. And, we would have to admit that nobody could even be certain if he would ever be charged if the video didn't exist.

 

[Woobie]

And without a clear video, I just think it's worth considering whether the witnesses to this shooting might also fail to JIBE their accounts.

Unrelated?

It will be hard to prove conspiracy between this officer and Darren Wilson. Yes they're unrelated. They happened months and hundreds of miles apart, and it is unlikely any of the parties involved in the two cases have ever even met each other. You may or may not be able to compare and contrast these cases, draw parallels, etc. But they are not related so far as we know, and it is highly unlikely that they are.

 

[bocefus78]

I watched it. I also read an article that had some good still shots of the video. The exact moment the perp starts running and the taser hits the dirt, take notice of the PO's position in the road. Then take notice of his position where he draws, aims, and fires. He never even made an attempt, NOT ONE step, towards actually apprehending said perp.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

It will be hard to prove conspiracy between this officer and Darren Wilson. Yes they're unrelated. They happened months and hundreds of miles apart, and it is unlikely any of the parties involved in the two cases have ever even met each other. You may or may not be able to compare and contrast these cases, draw parallels, etc. But they are not related so far as we know, and it is highly unlikely that they are.

What in the world gave you the impression that I thought there was a connection? I only meant that they were both police action shootings; one with video and one without.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

INGO thread:
https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...er-shoots-man-alleged-seatbelt-violation.html

Dashcam:

Trooper Sean Groubert's dash cam shows shooting of Levar Jones - wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina

Missed that one. Yup, screwed the pooch on that one and the guy was compliant. Case done yet?

 

[chipbennett]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/u...-charged-with-murder-in-black-mans-death.html



Wow, this is a rough one.

If by "rough", you mean "an almost open-and-shut case of murder", then I'd agree. He was in the wrong, he knew he was in the wrong, and he adulterated a crime scene in an attempt to cover up his wrong-doing.

 

[Woobie]

What in the world gave you the impression that I thought there was a connection? I only meant that they were both police action shootings; one with video and one without.

We were using the word "related" which carries a pretty strong connotation of connection.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Missed that one. Yup, screwed the pooch on that one and the guy was compliant. Case done yet?

COLUMBIA, SC: 2015 trial looks likely for ex-trooper | South Carolina | The Island Packet

Looks like the trial hasn't happened yet.

 

[jd4320t]

If a suspect takes a LEO's stun gun are they allowed to protect themselves with lethal force?

When the officer shot was he aware the stun gun had been dropped?

I'm simply asking what I don't know.

 

[T.Lex]

Missed that one. Yup, screwed the pooch on that one and the guy was compliant. Case done yet?

Which one?

Looks like the civil case settled for $285k. (Figure the lawyer got $90k, dude probably got about $200k of it.)

Criminal case still pending. It looks like there's some funky SC system of setting deadlines, and July 2015 is the deadline in his case.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

If a suspect takes a LEO's stun gun are they allowed to protect themselves with lethal force?

When the officer shot was he aware the stun gun had been dropped?

I'm simply asking what I don't know.

See my post #59.

If you disarm an officer, at least in Indiana, of a weapon that's a felony and we know what the rules are on forcible felonies. If he attempted to shoot the officer with the Taser, real easy argument that when you could be rendered helpless by the Taser, disarmed further, or killed. I can even see if the officer didn't know where the Taser was after some altercation and there was some reasonable belief the suspect was trying to Tase him. None of that seems to be present here. Bad shoot.

 

[T.Lex]

I think there's a disconnect. It looked to me like the officer still had the stun gun and dropped it when the dude started to run away.

Edit:
Re-watched and I guess it is hard to tell whether the officer is throwing it behind him with his left hand, or if the victim threw it as he started running away. Either way, no one had control of it when the officer started his draw. Except the victim had the wires trailing him.

 

[Denny347]

If a suspect takes a LEO's stun gun are they allowed to protect themselves with lethal force?

When the officer shot was he aware the stun gun had been dropped?

I'm simply asking what I don't know.

Yes, if a suspect wrestles my Taser away from me, it can be a deadly force situation. However, just carrying the Taser while running away is not enough to shoot his as he was fleeing. It is a VERY narrow window for an officer to be able to do that, for good reason. Even if what you said was true, he thought he was still in danger, altering the crime scene invalidates that excuse. NEVER EVER EVER EVER alter a crime scene. Even if I made a questionable shooting, altering the scene takes the shooting from questionable to bad automatically.

 

[jd4320t]

See my post #59.

Yes, if a suspect wrestles my Taser away from me, it can be a deadly force situation. However, just carrying the Taser while running away is not enough to shoot his as he was fleeing. It is a VERY narrow window for an officer to be able to do that, for good reason. Even if what you said was true, he thought he was still in danger, altering the crime scene invalidates that excuse. NEVER EVER EVER EVER alter a crime scene. Even if I made a questionable shooting, altering the scene takes the shooting from questionable to bad automatically.

Thanks. I didn't read the thread, I just watched the video. I agree that he altered the crime scene and was just trying to understand if he felt in danger and was protecting himself.

 

[chipbennett]

See my post #59.

Just catching up on several pages, sorry if this has been discussed already. There's also the fact that the victim was running away, and was a good 10-20 yards away when the officer started shooting. Even if he was a "fleeing felon", there was no probable cause that he posed an immediate threat of death or great bodily harm to the officer or anyone nearby. The guy was evading a bench warrant for failure to pay child support.