If this guy gets off I would expect some more ambush shootings. That seems to be the MO nowadays. Eventually the police will get the message that if the courts and justice is broken it will be balanced out outside the law.
It’s very sad we’ve let this happen. The guy who was shot was worried about being detained because he was skipping out on child support payments. He was a criminal. But the police need to realize that detaining someone for a reason like that is not worth your life. In fact anyone running away who has not just grievously wounded someone or appears to be about to should be not be shot at. You shouldn’t even unholster.
I have no idea how to solve this though. The police are putting themselves in a position where they are jumpy all the time and think people are out to get them. Which will be true because there doesn’t seem to be justice. That makes both sides very dangerous and rightful to be scared and vengeful.
Wait, I do have an idea. You need to prove to the public the checks and balance system we’ve set up to monitor the incredible trust we’ve given a bunch of armed, aggressive men actually works.
What happens when juries have that one juror who says a policeman who was shot it was reasonable that the defendent did it in self-defense? That’s what I think it will take.
“I’ve never been cursed, physically abused, beaten and treated like a slave as I was two days ago,” Lanier said, breaking down as he described how he landed in handcuffs and in a hospital. “For somebody to grab me by the neck in the supermarket, and I’m telling you, ‘I’m one of you,’ and you disrespect it — it was like you’re just another black dude.”
“They cursed at him, they abused him verbally, they then start to beat him,” his attorney, Fred Brewington, told 1010 WINS. “He was taking blows with his hands cuffed behind him as he laid facedown.”
Sounds like these cops were searching for a suspect and tackled the first black man they came across.
“They didn’t have a good description of who they were looking for. That doesn’t give you the right to go into a store and grab the first black person you see and throw them to the ground,” his attorney, Fred Brewington, told 1010 WINS. “The fact that he happened to be a black male in the store does not make him a culprit, it does not make him a suspect.”
I’ll be curious to see what might have been captured by security cameras on the premises.
This line in the article, though…
“I’m tired of hearing officers constantly talking about we have to retrain. We don’t have to retrain, we got to let them be held accountable for their actions,” Lanier said. “Imagine if I had my gun at that time. It could have went either way.”
Dear god. Here comes the excuse brigade I’m sure, even if they can’t figure out that a person can be a black person and a police officer so what lives matters then?
After reviewing what’s been written about this case and watching the video of the incident it’s unclear to me how this wasn’t a cut-and-dry case of homicide, negligent or otherwise.
On Monday, though, the panel of 11 white people and a black man again sent word that it would not be able to reach a unanimous verdict about Mr. Slager’s conduct, prompting the mistrial ruling.
Prosecutors have signaled before the ruling that they expect to bring the case again, but there is a possibility that the indictment could be resolved through a plea agreement.
[quote]
There are no degrees to the murder charge in South Carolina.[/quote]
[quote]
The jury here in Charleston had three options, besides deadlocking: a conviction for murder, a conviction of voluntary manslaughter or an acquittal. In South Carolina, a murder conviction can lead to a life sentence, and manslaughter carries a prison term of two to 30 years.[/quote]
Thanks. I am surprised they didn’t convict given the manslaughter option. In a non-violent situation no cop should be allowed to gun down someone running away. If for no other reason than him putting other people in danger from random shots or ricochets.
Yeah, from what I’ve read, it was one juror who refused to believe the cop did anything at all wrong, so manslaughter was off the table for him as well.
