Mayor vows body cams for entire force after shooting video

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By BRUCE SMITH and JEFFREY COLLINS

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A white South Carolina police officer who claimed he killed a black man in self-defense has been fired and faces murder charges after a bystander's video recorded him firing eight shots at the man's back as he ran away. The city's mayor also said he's ordered body cameras to be worn by every single officer on the force.

The officer, Michael Thomas Slager, has been fired, but the town will continue to pay for his health insurance because his wife is eight-month's pregnant, said North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey, who called it a tragedy for two families.

Police Chief Eddie Diggers said he was "sickened" by what he saw on the video, but his explanations were repeatedly interrupted by shouts of "no justice, no peace!" and other hard questions that he said he couldn't answer. The mayor then took back the podium and threatened to close the news conference.

Protests began within hours of the murder charge against Slager, which was announced Tuesday, the same day the video was released to the media. About 75 people gathered outside City Hall in North Charleston, led by a Black Lives Matter, a group formed after the fatal shooting of another black man in Ferguson, Missouri.

FULL story at link.

http://apnews.excite.com/image/20150408/515302721892-Police_Officer_Fatal_Shooting_20150408.html?date=20150408&docid=us-police-officer-fatal-shooting-8215bd1ca2

A man holds a sign during a protest for the shooting death of Walter Scott at city hall in North Charleston, S.C., Wednesday, April 8, 2015. Scott was killed by a North Charleston police office after a traffic stop on Saturday. The officer, Michael Thomas Slager, has been charged with murder. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150408/us-police-officer-fatal-shooting-8215bd1ca2.html

[cosmicone]

1. KIlled over a broken tail-light ... pathetic

My heart goes out to the family of the guy killed by this out-of-control cop.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

2. The cop could have just said - go get a new tail light or I'll light you up 8 times in the back.

I'm pretty sure that would have been effective. But no, then he wouldn't have the pleasure of murdering a human being and getting away with is (or so he thought).

[greymattermom]

3. Makes me wonder if he's done this before

They need to take a look at his whole work record.

[uponit7771]

8. I mentioned on another forum about how calm the cop was, that there was little forethought .. that

... he even knew WERE to toss the Tasor...

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. Uh..he has a record of police violence. PLUS: so does the Dept.

The North Charleston Police Department has a shocking record of abuse allegations
South Carolina police have fired on 209 suspects over the past five years, but only a few have been charged and none have ever been convicted, according to The State, a South Carolina newspaper.
Based on a review of public records, the North Charleston Police Department has been sued 46 times since 2000 in federal court alone. Many of the suits have been unsuccessful. Some were written by hand from jail and immediately thrown out. Others ran into trouble over evidentiary and procedural obstacles. Taken together, however, the legal documents present a stunning account of police brutality in North Charleston, where the population is 47 percent black but the police force is about 80 percent white, according to the Times.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026476335

[libdem4life]

11. In these small towns, the only way a black man gets a job as a cop is to over-emphasize

his likeness as if he were white. I lived in an LA County suburb for years, and the Mexican Officers often were worse to the Mexicans than the whites. They were equally discriminatory...just in a different way. Authority vs. poor.

So just having a couple of blacks on a mostly white police force is well known...they are privileged to be let into the Good ol' White Boys Club.

[rurallib]

4. this whole thing is so surreal - killed in cold blood over a broken tail light

In previous iterations, the RW wurlitzer would be pumping out stories about how the victim was really a bad person and in part responsible for their own death. Michael Brown had stolen a pack of smokes they claimed. Etc., etc.

This incident is so blatant, and downright scary, that maybe even the Republican bubble machine has shut down.

If they get cameras, they better make sure they are turned on 100% of the time. I expect the police will pull some kind of an action to fight cameras.

[valerief]

6. Killed over racism, which benefits ONLY billionaires. nt

[valerief]

5. And what happens when they "lose" them or "don't turn them on?"

Nothing cuz cop privilege.

[Judi Lynn]

7. He must have felt like such a hero standing and shooting a 51-year old, stout man trying to run

away, and not getting anywhere very fast from behind.

His child will have quite a strange whopper they will feed him/her about "Daddy" when he/she gets old enough to listen to it.

[asiliveandbreathe]

9. Police will fight body cams - although sounds like the push is on - in the meantime

Everyone should have a body cam.....this video proves the point.....