SC Trooper Shoots man for alleged seatbelt violation

[PistolBob]

Wow. This is incredible.

SC trooper fired, arrested after shooting incident - TheIndyChannel.com

 

[Fargo]

Yeah, I have a feeling the DOJ is going to start getting deeply up in the business of a lot of state/local agencies if this spate of white officers of shooting black people who later turn out not to be a threat continues.

It doesn't take but 2-3 of these incidents on video for every officer in the country to start getting painted with really ugly brush, justified or not.

 

[phylodog]

I can't come up with any words after watching that. Wow. I hope that young man makes a full recovery. That officer quite obviously chose the wrong profession.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Man, that's bad. I think if I'd been that driver, I would have told the officer what I was about to do.

 

[Birds Away]

They're strict!

 

[printcraft]

Seatbelt laws save lives.

 

[steveh_131]

The trooper is charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, officials said.

He was in the wrong and, so far, it looks to me like justice is being served.

While I would love to see fewer trigger-happy cops and fewer silly laws that place their guns in our faces, proper accountability like this is refreshing and should help to break the pattern if we see more of it.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

This is a training video, right?

The title is "How to End Up in the Bureau of Prisons as a Police Officer", right?

 

[Tripp11]

I was flipping thru stations this morning, and stopped on the Russ Parr Morning Show on 96.3. They were talking about this incident in depth, but in my opinion, they were giving out terrible advice to black youth.

Russ was voicing his opinion on what black youth need to do when you are pulled over to avoid getting shot, and his first directive to his own kids and black youth across the country was to dig around in your console and glove box to retrieve your license and registration as you are pulling over. WTF?

Now, I have some LEO friends, and they advise against this as they (LEOs) are watching as you are pulling over to the side, and they don't much appreciate you digging around or diving across the console to retrieve or hide items as you are pulling over or when you are stopped.

Why not activate your flashers, turn on your dome light, roll down all windows, and keep your hands at 10 and 2 on the wheel until the officer approaches and then simply follow his directives?

 

[PistolBob]

I hope the shooting victim has a full recovery and sues the crap out of SC.

 

[Mark 1911]

Wow. That cop needs to go to jail. Unbelievable.

 

[rambone]

The only thing remarkable here is that justice is being carried out. We've seen the same scenario play out time and again and the officer is usually "justified" for carelessly blasting an innocent person.

Recall a few months ago, 70-year-old Bobby Canipe got shot up when he tried to acquire his cane from his truck. The deputy faced no charges or discipline.

If you saw this guy, would you shoot him?

 

[HoughMade]

That was horrible.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

The only thing remarkable here is that justice is being carried out.

Not really, that was beyond the pale.

All shootings are fact sensitive and make cookie cutter judgments worthless.

Here there is no cane or other action or thing that one can point to to say that the officer is in reasonable fear of serious bodily injury or death.

 

[rambone]

Here there is no cane or other action or thing that one can point to to say that the officer is in reasonable fear of serious bodily injury or death.

The defense will soon argue otherwise.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Yes, of course. Perhaps the video does not show everything (e.g. the media is not playing the entire video).

Wait and see.

 

[rambone]

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

Barney Giese, Groubert's defense attorney, said there's more than one way to interpret the video and told the judge Wednesday his client is not guilty and was justified in shooting Jones who was reaching for his license. Giese, who served as the 5th Judicial Circuit Solicitor for the past 16 years, said Jones reached for his license "aggressively" and Trooper Groubert thought he was reaching for a gun.

 

[T.Lex]

Dang. Just watched rambone's link to the dashcam.

I'd bet a dollar that the officer went through a shoot/no-shoot scenario where the guy goes headfirst into his car and comes out with a gun.

Not a good shoot, but I understand why the officer reacted like that.

Prediction: no one is going to like how the criminal case is resolved.

 

[Denny347]

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

Barney Giese, Groubert's defense attorney, said there's more than one way to interpret the video and told the judge Wednesday his client is not guilty and was justified in shooting Jones who was reaching for his license. Giese, who served as the 5th Judicial Circuit Solicitor for the past 16 years, said Jones reached for his license "aggressively" and Trooper Groubert thought he was reaching for a gun.

I cannot fault a defense attorney for doing his job, but this shooting was 100% wrong. That Trooper is clearly too afraid of the Boogie Man and picked the wrong profession. The driver was reaching into the vehicle like I would expect if I had just asked him for his driver's license. What was the indicator to the trooper that the driver might be armed? The color of his skin?

 

[rambone]

Trooper Groubert watched too much of that fear porn they promote in training.

[video=youtube;hiQoyr5vEXU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiQoyr5vEXU[/video]