Would Michael Slager have been arrested without the video?

Yes, A single bullet in the back would have been enough.

Most likely not. And even now there is a good chance he will get away with it.

Slager’s attorney instantly withdrew from the case when the video was to light.

Which suggests he knew the stroy was entirely different than what Slager reported.

He will probably still get away with it.

I am curious why it is acceptable to shoot a dude in the back eight EIGHT times instead of letting him get away. I could understand shooting if the guy was shooting up a Safeway at the time. But running away for a busted taillight? You have his car and can probably find out where he lives. Just sit outside his house and wait for him to go in or out.

Fuck this country.. And fuck the police..

I am curious why it is acceptable to shoot a dude in the back eight EIGHT times

It’s not, thus the murder charge.

Not right away. I suspect he might not even be convicted. It’s totally legal to shoot black people in America, if you’re white(ish).

@jaytkay :: The thing is this happens all the time but isn’t recorded. And even when recorded the cops get away with it. This dude would have probably got away with it if he didn’t plant the taser next to the guy he murdered.

I think he’ll be convicted.

Nope. He is a cop. As far as other cops are concerned, his word is gold. As far as prosecutors are concerned, his word is gold. As far as grand juries are concerned, his word is gold.

All he needed to do was to take a picture of the taser next to the victim’s body, he would have gotten a few weeks paid vacation/leave to “get over it, go fishing or go to the beach.” Then back to work.

If that was so, his attorney wouldn’t have dropped him like a hot potato the minute he saw the video, @zenvelo.

I heard this recently on the news here, that cop knew what he was doing his intention was to kill and in fact i do believe that if there was no evidence to show he would have got away with it like many others have for their wrong doing. This cop is wicked he probably thought he’d cover his tracks with the BS about resisting arrest or some other cock n bull story and that he’d get off and walk free i hope he never gets off for what he did, this is just another reason he’s added for the black community not to trust any cop, and they have good reason not to with bent coppers on the prowl.

@zenvelo He is a cop

Not any more!

No.
US cops are fucking thick as shit, dumb bastards.

He wouldn’t have been arrested without the video but now that it has been shown I suspect he will be convicted. He will be held up as the “one bad apple” in the police force.

I agree above. The video is hard to refute. He’ll be charged.

But just wondering…. Does anyone know why WS ran? Were there warrants or other issues like: drugs in the car, stolen car, etc.? I haven’t seen anything about it.

@LuckyGuy He had been arrested numerous times for failing to pay child support and the officer knew about it.

Ahh… I wonder if it was one of those states where you lose your license if you don’t pay child support and get arrested on the spot.

And every time he got arrested it probably cost more money and time so there was even less money to pay child support.

He will be SO convicted

@LuckyGuy Tell that to Rodney King.

@Dutchess_III I was answering the question. Before the video he would have gotten away with it. He had the support of the local media behind him. The attorney didn’t drop him until after the video.

Cops don’t arrest other cops until they have to.

@tinyfaery…and his lawyers. Lots of good stuff about RK in Wiki. “King sued the city and a jury awarded him $3.8 million as well as $1.7 million in attorney’s fees.[29] Charges against King for driving while intoxicated and evading arrest were never pursued.”

“Can we all get along?”

“King continued to get into trouble after the 1991 incident. On August 21, 1993, he crashed his car into a block wall in downtown Los Angeles.[37] He was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol, fined, entered an alcohol rehabilitation program and was placed on probation. In July 1995, he was arrested by Alhambra police after hitting his wife with his car and knocking her to the ground. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail after being convicted of hit and run.[38] King invested a portion of his settlement in a record label, Straight Alta-Pazz Records, which went under.[39] On August 27, 2003, King was arrested again for speeding and running a red light while under the influence of alcohol. He failed to yield to police officers and slammed his vehicle into a house, breaking his pelvis.[40] On November 29, 2007, while riding home on his bicycle, King was shot in the face, arms, and back with pellets from a shotgun. He reported that the attackers were a man and a woman who demanded his bicycle and shot him when he rode away.”

“On August 23, 2012, King’s autopsy results were released, stating he died of accidental drowning, and alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, and PCP found in his system were contributing factors.” Age 47.

Probably not. But, the fact is, nobody knows how to fabricate a perfect video ad hoc to represent events according to their whim within the parameters of the news cycle . At this moment, we must assume the video represents real events. So the video is compelling evidence that otherwise might not be available for evaluation. Thus we must assume the cop is a wanton killer. Shame on him.

I don’t think he’d have been arrested, and certainly I don’t think he would be convicted, had the video not been available. Will he be convicted now? I’m not sure. I’d like to say the evidence seems pretty clear cut, but I’ve thought that before and the legal decision has gone a different way.

And now that I have time to reflect upon it what is the issue?
The fact is there is a video.
So what is the point

No.
Otherwise we would have been shown the cop-car cam of a routine stop where the suspect ran out of camera range and was shot to death. Dead victim, cop with a lawyer.
No.

Cripes. I’m a middle-aged, middle-class, white conservative, and that is wrong. Criminal.

I want to add that the person that shot the video is a hero. I don’t think I would have had the guts to stick around.

The person who shot the video, Feidin Santana, is certainly a hero. I watched news report of the emotional meeting between him and Walter Scott’s family. Truly moving.

This isn’t just a Black American’s concern, this is all our concern. First, because these things are just wrong and the cops are way out of hand all over the country. Second, because it is way under-reported and the news media just kisses the cops’ asses every time one of them gets shot, often justifiable, as heroes, but in reality many of these cops get their comeuppance from guys who have had it with their harassment. Third, because you are not immune to this treatment, you could get it tonight by one these jerks coming back from dinner and a movie. Cops in the US are nothing less than bullies with badges and guns. Assholes. If they really wanted to “Protect and Serve,” why didn’t they become firemen or paramedics. I’m sick of hearing that bullshit line.

It’s not surprising to me that the US loses so many of their police to violence—both on duty and off. For them, it’s been open season on everybody of every race for a long, long time. The one common factor of their victims is the low social economic strata they come from. Right now, only some of the most offensive injustices against black people hit the national news, but there are people murdered and crippled by them everyday all over the nation, and these stories never get beyond the local news because of widespread media policy to show solidarity with these motherfuckers.

Just today I read the report below, which only made it to a national level because the victim actually said recently that he holds nothing against the cops that did this to him sixteen years ago and that “sometimes the police make mistakes.” Yeah, right. I feel sorry for the guy, but I think he’s either still running scared (Stockholm Syndrome), or he’s a world-class schmuck.

…Theoharis was napping in a friend’s house in Puyallup, Washington, when police arrived to arrest the friend’s son, and when Theoharis reached for his ID, one officer imagined a gun, and the two officers opened fire, hitting Theoharis in the jaw, both upper arms, both lower arms, wrist, hand, shoulder, abdomen and both legs. He spent months in a hospital and skilled nursing facility and today is largely immobile and unable to work. (He “won” legal settlements totalling $5.5 million, but one-third went to lawyers, and much of the rest has paid medical bills.) [Seattle Times, 3–21-2015]

Like dozens of cases we never hear of, if it were not for the bystander and the camera phone, he would have gone home sated and had a good meal knowing he killed the “bad man”. The video only got him arrested, as with Rodney King and Oscar Grant, we know he can still get away with it, even if they just call it manslaughter, then they can give him “wino time” in the big house, if they even do, or probation.

I can’t believe you guys keep bringing up Rodney King. King was actively fighting the cops. This guy never took a single swing at the cops. He just ran.

RK was not actively fighting when he was on the floor being punched and kicked. I don’t care what anyone does. NOTHING excuses such an abuse of power and violence. I lived through this. Police think they have a right to abuse their power and that is the problem.

The US military needs to stop sharing equipment with the local police.

The local police need to value “local” over ‘police’.

The local police should earn a living wage for the community, +15% minimum. Tip them!