Well not exactly. It seems that Walter Scott shot Slager with a taser; twice; and then ran with him still holding the taser/cartridge with the taser guide-wires still in Slager's chest. This was after the two had been in a scuffle, where Scott was clearly on top of Slager; apparently winning.
Not nearly as clean and neat as it was sold to the public. (Watch the videos in the links provided Plain Ol') On Mon, Jul 11, 2016 at 3:21 PM, plainolamerican <[email protected]> wrote: > Michael Slager stopped Walter Scott > <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/us/former-south-carolina-officer-is-indicted-in-death-of-walter-scott.html?_r=1> > for > a busted taillight and then fatally shot him > --- > he shot the unarmed man 8 times in the back. > > > On Monday, July 11, 2016 at 8:48:16 AM UTC-5, MJ wrote: >> >> [ALL people ... actually] >> >> >> September/October 2015 issue >> >> *Police Shootings Won't Stop Unless We Also Stop Shaking Down Black >> People * >> *The dangers of turning police officers into revenue generators. *Jack >> Hitt >> >> In April, several days after North Charleston, South Carolina, police >> officer Michael Slager stopped Walter Scott >> <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/us/former-south-carolina-officer-is-indicted-in-death-of-walter-scott.html?_r=1> >> for a busted taillight and then fatally shot him, the usual cable-news >> transmogrification of victim into superpredator ran into problems. The dash >> cam >> <http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/04/09/tsr-dash-cam-walter-scott-police-shooting.cnn> >> showed Scott being pulled over while traveling at a nerdy rate of speed, >> using his left turn signal to pull into a parking lot and having an amiable >> conversation with Slager until he realized he'd probably get popped for >> nonpayment of child support. At which point he bolted out of the car and >> hobbled off. Slager then shot him. Why didn't the cop just jog up and grab >> him? Calling what the obese 50-year-old Scott was doing "running" really >> stretches the bounds of literary license. >> >> But maybe the question to ask is: Why did Scott run? The answer came when >> the *New York Times* revealed >> <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/20/us/skip-child-support-go-to-jail-lose-job-repeat.html> >> Scott to be a man of modest means trapped in an exhausting hamster wheel: >> He would get a low-paying job, make some child support payments, fall >> behind on them, get fined, miss a payment, get jailed for a few weeks, lose >> that job due to absence, and then start over at a lower-paying job. From >> all apparent evidence, he was a decent schlub trying to make things work in >> a system engineered to make his life miserable and recast his best efforts >> as criminal behavior. >> >> Recently, two more deaths of African Americans that have blown up in the >> media follow a pattern similar to Scott's. Sandra Bland >> <http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/texas-waller-county-sandra-bland-racial-tensions> >> in Texas and Samuel DuBose >> <http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/video-shows-police-shooting-samuel-dubose> >> in Cincinnati were each stopped for minor traffic infractions (failing to >> use turn signal, missing front license plate), followed by immediate >> escalation by the officer into rage, and then an official story that is >> obviously contradicted >> <http://gawker.com/video-of-sam-duboses-death-drastically-different-from-t-1720896658> >> by the video (that the officer tried to "de-escalate" the tension with >> Bland; that the officer was dragged by DuBose's car). In both cases, the >> perpetrator of a minor traffic offense died. >> >> When incidents of police violence come to light, the usual defense is >> that we should not tarnish all the good cops just because of "a few bad >> apples." No one can argue with that. But what is usually implied in that >> phrase is that the "bad" officers' intentions are malevolentthat they are >> morally corrupt and racist. And that may be true, but they are also bad in >> the job-performance sense. These men are crummy cops, sometimes profoundly >> so. Slager had a record for gratuitously using his Taser. Timothy Leohmann, >> who leapt from his car and instantly killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice >> <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cleveland-officer-shot-tamir-rice-within-seconds-of-pulling-up-in-patrol-car/>, >> had been deemed "weepy" and unable to "emotionally function" by a >> supervisor at his previous PD job, who added: "I do not believe time, nor >> training, will be able to change or correct these deficiencies." Ferguson's >> Darren Wilson was also fired >> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/darren-wilsons-first-job-was-on-a-troubled-police-force-disbanded-by-authorities/2014/08/23/1ac796f0-2a45-11e4-8593-da634b334390_story.html> >> from his previous jobactually, the entire police force of Jennings, >> Missouri, was disbanded for being awful. >> >> When you ask why such "bad" cops are nevertheless armed and allowed to >> patrol the streets, one begins to see that lurking beneath this violence is >> a fiscal menace: police departments forced to assist city officials in >> raising revenue, in many cases funding their own salariesredirecting the >> very concept of keeping the peace into underwriting the budget. >> >> We saw a glimpse of this when the Justice Department released its report >> <http://www.motherjones.com/documents/2191006-doj-ferguson-report> on >> Ferguson in March. In his statement, then-Attorney General Eric Holder >> referenced a lady in town whose life sounded Walter Scott-like. She had >> received two parking tickets totaling $151. Her efforts to pay those fines >> fell so behind that she eventually paid out more than $500. At one point, >> she was jailed for nonpayment andeight years laterstill owes $541 in >> accrued fees. >> >> The judge largely responsible for the extraction of these fees from >> Ferguson's poor, Ronald J. Brockmeyer >> <http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/06/ferguson-judge-owes-unpaid-taxes-ronald-brockmeyer>, >> owed $172,646 in back taxes, a sum orders of magnitude greater than any >> late fine coming before his bench. Even as he was jailing black ladies for >> parking tickets, Brockmeyer was allegedly erasing citations for white >> Ferguson residents who happened to be his friends. After the report's >> publication, he resigned so that Ferguson could "begin its healing process." >> >> But consider: In 2010, this collaboration between the Ferguson police and >> the courts generated $1.4 million in income for the city. This year, they >> will more than double that amount$3.1 millionproviding nearly a quarter >> of the city's $13 million budget, almost all of it extracted from its >> poorest African American citizens. >> >> Evidence also suggests that this new form of raising >> revenuepoliciteering?goes far beyond Ferguson. Remember the recent >> Oklahoma case involving Robert Bates >> <http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/volunteer-tulsa-deputy-robert-bates-sold-company-went-back-to/article_7f23ccc3-4bcb-52a4-826d-c06103a42786.html>, >> a 73-year-old millionaire insurance broker with scant law enforcement >> background who was allowed to go out on patrollikely because he had >> donated lots of money and equipment to the local sheriff's office? He >> killed an unarmed black suspect when he grabbed his gun instead of his >> Taser. In the days that followed, we learned that other deputies had long >> resented this guy's freelance incompetence. >> >> "Essentially, these small towns in urban areas have municipal >> infrastructure that can't be supported by the tax base, and so they ticket >> everything in sight to keep the town functioning," said William Maurer, a >> lawyer with the Institute for Justice who has been studying the sudden rise >> in "nontraffic-related fines." >> >> Take the St. Louis suburb of Pagedale, where, among other Norman >> Rockwell-worthy features deemed illegal, "you can't have a hedge more than >> three feet high," Maurer says. "You can't have a basketball hoop or a >> wading pool in front of a house. You can't have a dish antenna on the front >> of your house. You can't walk on the roadway if there is a sidewalk, and if >> there is not a sidewalk, they must walk on the left side of the roadway. >> They must walk on the right of the crosswalk. They can't conduct a barbecue >> in the front yard and can't have an alcoholic beverage within 150 feet of a >> barbecue. Kids cannot play in the street. They also have restrictions >> against pants being worn below the waist in public. Cars must be within 500 >> feet of a lamp or a source of illumination during nighttime hours. Blinds >> must be neatly hung in respectable appearance, properly maintained, and in >> a state of good repair." >> >> Where did this Kafkaesque laundry list come from? Maurer explains that in >> 2010, Missouri passed a law that capped the amount of city revenue that any >> agency could generate from traffic stops. The intent was to limit >> small-town speed traps, but the unintentional consequences are now clear: >> Pagedale saw a 495 percent increase in nontraffic-related arrests. "In >> Frontenac, the increase was 364 percent," Maurer says. "In Lakeshire, it >> was 209 percent." >> >> This racket now has many variants. South Carolina hosts " Operation >> Rolling Thunder >> <http://ij.org/south-carolina-police-seized-nearly-100-000-in-crackdown-but-stopped-few-criminals>," >> an annual dragnet in which 21 different law enforcement agencies swarm >> stretches of I-85 and I-26 in the name of catching drug dealers. In 2013, >> this law enforcement Bonnaroo netted 1,300 traffic citations and 300 >> speeding tickets. But after everyone had paid up, the operation boasted >> exactly one felony conviction. >> >> A different strategy in San Diego simply tacks on various fees to an >> existing fine. A 2012 *Union Tribune* investigation >> <http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&biw&bih&q=cache:gLaPZ1TIbc0J:http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2012/aug/18/courts-how-your-35-speeding-ticket-becomes-a-235/%2BCourt+officials+say+that+San+Diego+County+law+enforcement+agencies+have+recently+been+issuing+fewer+tickets+than+in+the+past&gbv=2&&ct=clnk> >> revealed that while speeding is a simple $35 fine, other government >> agencies can tack on as many as 10 other surcharges, including: a state >> penalty assessment, $40; county penalty assessment, $36; court >> construction, $20; state surcharge, $8; DNA identification, $16; criminal >> conviction fee, $35; court operations, $40; emergency medical air >> transportation penalty, $4; and night court, $1. When it's all said and >> done, that $35 ticket comes to $235. >> >> Another report >> <http://cdn.sandiegouniontrib.com/news/documents/2015/02/25/SDPD_traffic_stops_report.pdf> >> released earlier this year connects the dots: African Americans and Latinos >> make up less than a third of San Diego's population but represent 64.5 >> percent of those searched during a traffic stop. >> >> There is still no comprehensive study to determine just how many cities >> pay their bills by indenturing the poor, but it is probably no coincidence >> that when you examine the recent rash of police killings, you find that the >> offenses they were initially stopped for were preposterously minor. Bland's >> lane change signal, DuBose's missing plate. Walter Scott had that busted >> taillightwhich, we all later learned, is not even a crime in South >> Carolina. Eric Garner was selling loose cigarettes. When Darren Wilson was >> called to look into a robbery >> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/08/15/ferguson-police-releasing-name-of-officer-who-shot-michael-brown/>, >> the reason he initially stopped Michael Brown was for walking in the >> streetin Ferguson, an illegal act according to Section 44-344 >> <https://www.municode.com/library/mo/ferguson/codes/code_of_ordinances?searchRequest=%7B%22searchText%22:%22manner%20of%20walking%20in%20roadway%22,%22pageNum%22:1,%22resultsPerPage%22:25,%22booleanSearch%22:false,%22stemming%22:true,%22fuzzy%22:false,%22synonym%22:false,%22contentTypes%22:%5B%22CODES%22%5D,%22productIds%22:%5B%5D%7D&nodeId=PTIICOOR_CH44TRMOVE_ARTVIIPE_S44-344MAWAALRO> >> of the local code. Between 2011 and 2013, 95 percent of the perpetrators of >> this atrocity were African American, meaning that "walking while black" is >> not a punch line. It is a crime. >> >> And not just a crime, but a crime that comes with fines that are strictly >> enforced. In 2014, Ferguson's bottom-line-driven police force issued 16,000 >> arrest warrants to three-fourths of the town's total population of 21,000. >> Stop and think about that for a moment: In Ferguson, 75 percent of all >> residents had active outstanding arrest warrants. Most of the entire city >> was a virtual plantation of indentured revenue producers. >> >> Back in Pagedale, *St. Louis Post-Dispatch* reporter Jennifer Mann >> recently calculated >> <http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/municipalities-ticket-for-trees-and-toys-as-traffic-revenue-declines/article_42739be7-afd1-5f66-b325-e1f654ba9625.html> >> a 500 percent increase in petty fines over the last five years. "Pagedale >> handed out 2,255 citations for these types of offenses last year," Mann >> wrote, "or nearly two per household." >> >> "Once the system is primed for maximizing revenuestarting with fines and >> fine enforcement," Holder said apropos Ferguson, "the city relies on the >> police force to serve, essentially, as a collection agency for the >> municipal court rather than a law enforcement entity." >> >> In Alabama, a circuit court judge, Hub Harrington, wrote a blistering >> opinion >> <http://www.motherjones.com/documents/2191007-court-order-in-dana-burdette-v-town-of> >> three years ago asserting that the Shelby County Jail had become a kind of >> "debtors' prison" and that the court system had devolved into a "judicially >> sanctioned extortion racket." This pattern leads to a cruel paradox: One >> arm of the state is paying a large sum to lock up a person who can't pay a >> small sum owed to a different arm of the state. The result? Bigger state >> deficits. As the director of the Brennan Center's Justice Program put it, >> "Having taxpayers foot a bill of $4,000 to incarcerate a man who owes the >> state $745 or a woman who owes a predatory lender $425 and removing them >> from the job force makes sense in no reasonable world." >> >> When the poor come to understand that they are likely to be detained and >> fined for comically absurd crimes, it can't be a surprise to the police >> that their officers are viewed with increasing distrust. In this >> environment, running away from a cop is not an act of suspicion; it's >> common sense. >> >> Cops like to talk about "good police." They say, "That guy is good >> police"a top compliment, by which they mean cool under the pressure of the >> street and cunning at getting people to give up the details of a crime. >> Good police look bad when sharing the street with crummy police. But when >> budgetary whims replace peacekeeping as the central motivation of law >> enforcement, who is more likely to write up more tickets, the good cop or >> the crummy one? When the mission of the entire department shifts from >> "protect and serve" to "punish and profit," then just what constitutes good >> police? >> >> >> http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/police-shootings-traffic-stops-excessive-fines >> > -- > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. 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