That's a good guess. Most likely explanation imo.

The witness who did the recording says they struggled on the ground prior to the start of the tape. No way this cop gets convicted of murder. Watch for his lawyer to request a non-jury trial.

What separates this from all over the other negro killings this year? A smart phone and some big fing balls...

Amusing to see the response that the usual suspects have to this video. Of particular interest is the type that cannot justify the shooting (as much as they want to) however they make up for it by saying that the color of the victims skin is irrelevant.

In every one of these threads you've demonstrated you have no idea what you're doing, but even if the guy had confessed to 813 murders, punched the cop in he face, you can't shoot him in the back like that. That is called murder.

I initially thought he said that, but I think its a language thing. He said "they were struggling on the floor" and in the same breath says "maybe he fell or was tackled and he was down and the officer was up."

Murica

comments sections on fb and news articles are so fkn depressing

Yea I try to stay away from FB when it comes to stuff like this but it's hard. My sister in law (whom is one of my best friends) said the cop must of have a legit reason to shoot this guy. It's like JFC, I can't believe I'm friends with these people .

I think that some people find it very hard to understand that a person is capable of murdering another without provocation (despite it happening all the time, its relatively rare to see the whole thing unfold before your eyes). Add the fact that the accused here is a policeman (a profession which some see as capable of doing no wrong) and you have people like the one you describe. The rest are just outright racist.

Yea I know, that's what I tell myself. She also defends Bill Cosby. Thinks he's a wonderful man (describes him like he's Cliff Huxtable). She had no idea he was a regular at the Playboy Mansion for like 30 years.(Not that it's a crime, but still) I just chalk it up to blissful ignorance.

The witness did use the word floor and I took this to mean "ground" because he was not a native English speaker.

Frantic, I am predicting that this cop will not be convicted of murder even with the recording. It is likely he will be convicted of a lesser charge if and only if a lesser charge is an option. I hope I am wrong and he gets the death penalty, but he won't because he was an officer dealing with a suspect who resisted arrest. Ever heard of Rodney King?

To be clear and I am not saying the cop is not an evil piece of crap. I am saying the criminal justice system is corrupt, much more than the average person realizes. The cops, prosecutors and politicians cover up for each other.

The cop did have provocation, the dude resisted arrest (apparently before the recording) and then had the nerve to try and run away. The cop shot him the back because he did not want to get all sweaty by trying to chase him down. He did this not because he was a racist so much but because he knew he that even his black (good cop) colleague would cover up for him. He knew that the police investigators and DA office would look the other way.

If not for the recording what the hell do you think would have happened? This is the country (some of you) live in. Think of this next time you put your hand over your heart and sing "God Bless America" at the seventh ending stretch.

Sure he provoked him in the sense that he pissed him off by allegedly resisting and running away. However, most reasonable people aren't coming away from the footage thinking that he justifiably provoked him (to the extent that the reaction was proportionate).

I am all for cameras on cops. They will catch the bad cops and they will also help convict a lot more criminals. Both of these things are good.

The problem with all the un-filmed encounters is that a cop does not give up his constitutional rights when he becomes a cop. So if there are 7 legit shootings and 3 non-legit shootings, and none are recorded on film, we are left with reasonable doubt in all 10 cases. With cameras we could convict 2 or 3 of the non-legit shooters.

But they always say, better to let 10 guilty people off than to convict one innocent person, and that applies to all people including cops.

Let us be happy that the SC incident was caught on tape. But let us also not go around falsely convicting people when we do not have tape, as we saw the whole "hands up don't shoot" meme was a falsehood.

The local prosecutors and grand juries have gotten a lot of cases right - in MO. in NYC, in SC (so far), and in FL (non-cop case where the local prosecutor got it right, not the political appointee who took over later)

It would be better if all cases were caught on tape, but we are getting it right based on the limited information we have about the real circumstances of these cases.

I do not stand with those of you who would convict the innocent along with the guilty just to send a message. Everyone, including cops, deserve a fair trial. I think we will see this SC shooter convicted in a fair trial.

C. S.

Am I that poor a writer that you think I am?

Interesting take from Greg Howard at Deadspin:

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/the...3/+GregHoward1

I would argue that "law enforcement culture" is more of a factor than racism in police abuse.

The context here is the earlier poster mentioned that his friend was in disbelief over the video. I then stated that many people find it hard to believe that someone could be murdered in an unprovoked way. You mentioned that the victim did in fact provoke the officer. I clarified by elaborating on what i meant by using the word "unprovoked".

Fair enough. I am an older guy and obviously I am jaded when it comes to this kind of thing. My shock over people getting killed for no reason and other depressing crap has lessened. That these things are getting more exposure is progress.

The usual suspects are pooling money for the defense (the original account that started this fundraiser had a KKK avatar but this was quickly removed).

I have found that many who generally leap to the defense of cops in situations where unarmed black kids are gunned down are condemning the actions of this officer. Whether it is out of necessity (because of the video) or sincerity is up for speculation, but i do hope that this demonstrates that there is a large mass of people who generally side with the cops in these instances who aren't racist (they are just very stupid and ignorant). The distinction is important because the stupid can be reached with video evidence whereas the racists simply don't care. It would be great if body cameras became a mandatory part of the police uniform.

Were it not for the video (and the young man who had the courage to come forward with the video), the way the system would be working right now is to vindicate the officer. (Before the video appeared, that's exactly how "the system" was working - the officer was getting away with a total vindication.) After this, one has to wonder ... how many times has this happened when no one was around with a cell phone?

OTOH, I can see the problem that confronts police officers. CNN showed a video last night of an officer questioning a man who had a complaint of domestic violence. After telling the officer that he did not have any weapons on him, he suddenly pulled out a .22 caliber pistol and shot the officer five times (in the face) before killing himself with the officers gun.

Even if police officers were paid $100,000.00/year (plus a generous pension and full health benefits) there's no way in the world I would take that job. Too much risk ...

Do you have data which backs up your assertion that there is "too much risk"? It seems ridiculous to base this on what you saw on CNN.

Sure. Can't be found guilty of perverting justice just because of a mistake or incompetence - there has to be intent. Should still be fired if incompetent enough.

We just have to recognise that the police can easily take advantage of 'incompetence' and 'equipment failure'. They need to know that if caught they face criminal charges especially if its conspiracy and/or systematic.

If you are referring to people who have posted in the various threads in this forum about various police and neighborhood watch shootings, I think that your characterization of "leaping to the defense of cops" is way off base. I've read most of these threads and what people are leaping to is finding justice in a fair way (with defendant protection, reasonable doubt) and truthful way (credibility of witnesses considered and so forth).

In the Michael Brown case I assumed the officer at a minimum committed manslaughter due to his over reaction to the situation. But then the video of the bystander taken while Brown's body was still on the ground came out and I heard the testimony of a witness before the meme's came out, before the witnesses were told what the accepted story should be, and it was clear from that early honest testimony that Brown was the person who forced the outcome of the event to occur. It was the truth coming out, a truth that even the DOJ had to acknowledge, that allowed Wilson to go free.

I don't see many people jumping to the defense of cops, I see people declining to jump to the worst case "cops are bad" conclusion before we know what really happened.

In the SC case, strong evidence has come in against this cop, and people are following the evidence, just as they followed the evidence in previous cases. I respect those people more than the people who are ready to convict any cop involved in a shooting before they know many facts of the case, and that hsppens too often in this forum.