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posted by on Wednesday April 08 2015, @10:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the lights-camera-action dept.

Robinson Meyer writes in The Atlantic that in the past year, after the killings of Michael Brown and Tamir Rice, many police departments and police reformists have agreed on the necessity of police-worn body cameras. But the most powerful cameras aren’t those on officer’s bodies but those wielded by bystanders. We don’t yet know who shot videos of officer officer, Michael T. Slager, shooting Walter Scott eight times as he runs away but "unknown cameramen and women lived out high democratic ideals: They watched a cop kill someone, shoot recklessly at someone running away, and they kept the camera trained on the cop," writes Robinson. "They were there, on an ordinary, hazy Saturday morning, and they chose to be courageous. They bore witness, at unknown risk to themselves."

“We have been talking about police brutality for years. And now, because of videos, we are seeing just how systemic and widespread it is,” tweeted Deray McKesson, an activist in Ferguson, after the videos emerged Tuesday night. “The videos over the past seven months have empowered us to ask deeper questions, to push more forcefully in confronting the system.” The process of ascertaining the truth of the world has to start somewhere. A video is one more assertion made about what is real concludes Robinson. "Today, through some unknown hero’s stubborn internal choice to witness instead of flee, to press record and to watch something terrible unfold, we have one more such assertion of reality."

Update: NBC News has identified the cameraman as Feidin Santana.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Thursday April 09 2015, @02:27AM

    by hemocyanin (186) on Thursday April 09 2015, @02:27AM (#168116) Journal

    If the cop is not convicted at trial, that lack of conviction will be secured before the evidentiary phase even starts during the jury selection process. The Defense just has to get one person who will look for any excuse to rule in favor of the cop, and then give him or her that reason by making up some bullshit about a scuffle prior to the time the video starts running, something that should be fairly easy for a competent defense to do because there was obviously something (probably a taser) that either or both were touching right before Scott ran (see pic 1): http://abcnews.go.com/US/walter-scott-shooting-breaking-witness-video-frame-frame/story?id=30159871 [go.com] It's actually sort of hard to sort out what is happening there and in some ways, I think the headlines about the video may be a disservice to justice in this case because they raise expectations that aren't truly met.

    Note -- I'm not saying that I think this defense ought to win. In my view, there is almost never a reason to shoot someone in the back when police are converging on the scene as they were here (my feelings would be different if he had a rifle or a gun in his hand, but Scott obviously had neither), and I think the cop deserves the murder rap. By the same token, I think the video is less obvious than people make it out to be and I know the defense is going to pounce on this and run with it. There are still issues of credibility to be found in the video though, like the non-existent CPR that the cop reported doing (although we the video doesn't extend to the EMT's arrival, so again, another chance to spin a web), but my point is not whether the made up story would be reasonable, the point is whether it would be sufficient for a prejudiced juror to use as a basis for acquittal.

    As for a grand jury, my understanding is that there is not going to be one. The prosecutor has brought charges (negates the need for grand jury) and the cop is in jail right now, bond having been denied. At least that was the status this morning when I was reading articles.

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