Former South Carolina police officer Michael Slager has been sentenced to at least 19 years in jail over the killing of Walter Scott, a black man whom Slager had shot in the back as he was trying to flee.
ABC News reports that U.S. District Judge David Norton ruled on Thursday that Slager must serve a prison sentence of between 19 to 24 years for both committing second-degree murder and obstructing justice.
Slager fatally shot Scott in 2015 while he was an officer at the North Charleston Police Department. Shortly after the shooting occurred, an eyewitness video emerged showing that Scott had turned around to flee from Slager during a confrontation the two men had — at which point, Slager took out his firearm and shot Scott in the back.
The video directly contradicted Slager’s assertion that he only shot Scott because he felt his life was in danger. After the video emerged, Slager was fired from his job at the North Charleston Police Department.
Despite this clear video evidence, however, a jury late last year was unable to reach a verdict on Slager’s guilt, and the judge in the case eventually declared a mistrial.
“The state retrial and federal trial were expected to take place this year, but instead, in May Slager pleaded guilty to violating Scott’s civil rights in federal court, ending the federal case against him and also resolving the state charges that were pending after the mistrial,” reports ABC News.
Yet another odd one from the courts. This one in my view, definitely falls under “The New Jim Crow”. I am not familiar with the statutes in the State relative to murder, so this could be an issue of “overcharging” – but I cannot understand why this murderer wasn’t held culpable. At least under a lesser charge.
Officer Shelby was acquitted by a jury in the shooting of unarmed black man Terence Crutcher
Tulsa police officer Betty Jo Shelby was acquitted of first-degree manslaughter after shooting and killing unarmed black man Terence Crutcher last year. The jury of nine white people and three were black people acquitted Shelby after nine hours of deliberation on Wednesday night, according to NPR.
The shooting took place last September and was captured on video which shows Crutcher with his hands above his head as he walks towards his vehicle that is stalled in the middle of the road. Aerial footage of the shooting was also taken by Shelby’s husband, a Tulsa police officer who was operating the department’s helicopter that evening.
Shelby said that she used lethal force because she feared for her life as she believed Crutcher attempted to reach into a car to, presumably, grab a weapon. The officer arrived at the scene where Crutcher’s car was stalled in the middle of the road, and a witness who dialed 911 claimed a man was running away from the vehicle delivering warnings that it may explode, according to CNN. Shelby testified that Crutcher was not complying with her commands to make his hands visible and that she had acted only as she was trained to. Shelby also said Crutcher was sweating and claimed that she had smelled PCP.
“We’re not trained to see what comes out of a car,” she said according to CNN. “We’re trained to stop a threat, and by all indications, he was a threat.” At the same time that Shelby shot Crutcher, another officer next to her deployed his taser. An autopsy report found that PCP was in Crutcher’s system at the time of the shooting, according to CNN. However, no weapon was ultimately found on his person or in the vehicle.
When asked if the outcome of the incident was Crutcher’s own fault, Shelby replied, “Yes,” in a “60 Minutes” interview. “I have sorrow that this happened, that this man lost his life. But he caused the situation to occur,” Shelby said “So in the end, he caused his own,” death.
The ruling delivered a devastating blow to the family who believed that Shelby should have faced consequences for her actions. “Let it be known that I believe in my heart that Betty Shelby got away with murder, and I don’t know what was in the mind of that jury,” Crutcher’s father said, according to NPR.
The incident is the latest in a string of shootings of unarmed black men at the hands of law enforcement across the country. Officers have seldom been convicted of crimes. Critics say that Shelby, who is white, overreacted and used unnecessary force. Protesters gathered peacefully outside the courtroom shortly after the verdict, condemning the decision, according to CNN.
“No justice, no peace, no racist police!” the crowd chanted.
Leaders in Tulsa, Oklahoma have urged for peace after the verdict. “This verdict does not alter the course on which we are adamantly set,” Mayor G.T. Bynum said in a news conference, according to the Associated Press.
“It does not change our recognition of the racial disparities that have afflicted Tulsa historically. It does not change our work to institute community policing measures that empower citizens to work side by side with police officers in making our community safer.”
Manly (not) Republicans have made it legal for “hunters” in Alaska to kill hibernating bears in their caves, as well as courageously slaughter wold puppies in their dens. All with submachine guns. And in the case of wolves, safely ensconced in their helicopters. Yeah, out chickenshit two toots little Johnson wee-publicans are too cowardly to face bears and wolves which are awake or on their own ground, even armed with M-16’s and AK 47s!
Is it technically hunting if your prey is sleeping?
Hunters in Alaska can now track and kill hibernating bears thanks to a U.S. House and Senate resolution rolling back Obama-era regulations against the practice.
President Donald Trump signed the bill into law on Monday, which rolled back Alaska’s ban on killing the vulnerable bears, along with wolf cubs in dens. It also allows for hunters to target the animals from helicopters.
The Republican-sponsored legislation impacts 76.8 million acres of federally protected national preserves across Alaska.
Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) took to the Senate floor last month to denounce the previous rule that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued in August.
Murkowski called it “bad for Alaska, bad for hunters, bad for our native peoples, bad for America,” and a “direct attack on states’ rights.”
In Sullivan’s argument, the lawmaker said the change was for Alaskans “who value hunting as a deep part of their culture.”
The Humane Society of the United States condemned the rollback.
“What the House did today should shock the conscience of every animal lover in America,” said Humane Society CEO Wayne Pacelle in a statement. “If the Senate and president concur, we’ll see wolf families killed in their dens [and] bears chased down by planes.”
Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), who introduced the measure, argued that states’ rights were being infringed upon by the rule.
The ferocious wolf cub can now be gunned down in their dens
“We have to recognize this is not about the little polar bears, the little grizzly bears or wolves on television, this is about the state’s right to manage — not allowing the federal government to do so,” Young said in testimony in February. “We want to be able to take and manage our fish and game for the sustainable yield — so that our fish and game will be there forever.”
Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said killing predators in such a “cruel, unsportsmanlike fashion is outrageous.”
“Senate Republicans have shown just how mean-spirited and petty they are with today’s vote,” he said in a statement following the passed measure in March.
Charging and convicting in this country are two different things – particularly if the murderer is a cop. Just look at the Walter Scott case. Although the officer’s race makes a difference in whether he will ultimately be convicted – look at the NYC case of Akai Gurley being murdered by Peter Liang.
A Minnesota police officer has been charged with second-degree manslaughter in the killing of a black man in a St. Paul suburb.
Prosecutors announced the charge against St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez on Wednesday.
Yanez fatally shot 32-year-old Philando Castile during a July 6 traffic stop in Falcon Heights. The shooting’s gruesome aftermath was streamed live on Facebook by Castile’s girlfriend, who was with him. She said Castile was shot while reaching for his ID after telling Yanez he had a gun permit and was armed.
Yanez is Latino. Castile was black.
Family members claim Castile was racially profiled. Yanez’s attorney has said the officer made the stop because Castile looked like a possible match for an armed robbery suspect, and Yanez reacted to the presence of a gun.
A Washington woman who was five months pregnant was shot and killed by King County Sheriff’s deputies Friday night on Muckleshoot tribal lands. Now her loved ones want to know why.
The dead woman’s former foster sister Danielle Bargala told the Seattle Times that Renee Davis, 23, had struggled with depression and mental illness before her fatal run-in with police on Friday.
“It’s really upsetting because it was a wellness check,” said Bargala, who is a Seattle University law student. “Obviously, she didn’t come out of it well.”
A relative of Davis called the sheriff’s department on Friday after receiving an alarming text from the mother of three. Police records show that officers responding to a call about a potential suicide encountered a woman with a handgun and two small children in the house when they arrived at 6:30 in the evening.
What happened next, Bargala said, is still in question, but at the end, Davis — who was an avid outdoorswoman of Native American heritage — lay dead of gunshot wounds. The children, 2 and 3 years old, were unharmed. Davis’ third child, a 5-year-old boy, was at a neighbor’s house.
Bargala said she didn’t know that Davis owned a handgun, but she did own a hunting rifle.
“She loved hunting,” she said.
Davis loved working outdoors. She participated in a fisheries training program and recently had been working as a teacher’s aide.
“She was such a soft person,” said Bargala. The two grew up in a family of seven children. Bargala’s parents had three children of their own and took in four foster children.
Seattle lawyer Ryan Dreveskracht told the Times that unfortunately, these scenarios are all too common when police interact with people struggling with mental illness.
Dreveskracht is currently representing the family of a mentally ill man who was killed by police. He said that while Seattle Police are being trained in de-escalation techniques, most police forces in the state are not.
Promising information that is more standardized and complete than has previously been available, Attorney General Loretta Lynch says the Department of Justice will collect data on the police use of deadly force in the line of duty.
Lynch’s announcement amplifies a statement by FBI Director James Comey at the end of September, when he told a congressional panel that the bureau is in the process of setting up a database that can track police killings and other use of force during interactions with the public.
The Justice Department plans to have a pilot program collecting data in early 2017.
“Accurate and comprehensive data on the use of force by law enforcement is essential to an informed and productive discussion about community-police relations,” Lynch said today. “The initiatives we are announcing today are vital efforts toward increasing transparency and building trust between law enforcement and the communities we serve.”
In addition to collecting data, the FBI’s pilot program will study the methodology used to collect that information. The agency’s announcement of the pilot program also calls for public comment — “from all interested parties, including local, state, tribal and federal law enforcement, civil rights organizations and other community stakeholders.”
A lack of a national database became a sticking point in recent years, particularly after a string of high-profile cases in which unarmed black men died at the hands of police. Attempts to fill that void have included the website Fatal Encounters, as well as aWashington Postdatabase that tracks how many people are shot and killed by police. So far in 2016, the Post reports that law enforcement officers have killed 754 people.
According to the FBI, “The pilot study participants are expected to include the largest law enforcement agencies, as well as the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Marshals Service.”
The push for collecting such data has also brought legislative action. From the Justice Department announcement:
“In 2014, Congress passed the Death in Custody Reporting Act (DCRA), which required states and federal law enforcement agencies to submit data to the department about civilians who died during interactions with law enforcement or in their custody (whether resulting from use of force or some other manner of death, such as suicide or natural causes) and authorized the Attorney General to impose a financial penalty on non-compliant states.”
Noting that the law doesn’t require the collection of nonlethal force, the Justice Department says it will also work to amass that data.
This one in DC three weeks ago. The officer fired from inside a patrol car into moving traffic in a direct violation of DC Police rules, There was no threat to the officers, Sterling was unarmed.
It has been three weeks since a D.C. police officer shot and killed Terrence Sterling. Despite the release of the police body camera footage and the officer’s name, there are still questions about what is going on behind the scenes of the investigation, especially since his death was ruled a homicide. Now, the Black Lives Matter movement is questioning the D.C. Police Union’s chairman and the impact his past will have on future proceedings.
Representatives for Black Lives Matter DC said a closed door meeting was held on Tuesday after the D.C. Police Union reached out to them. The meeting lasted about an hour and a half, but the group said they came out of the meeting with even more questions.
“I wanted him to know that this was bigger than just this case,” said April Goggans of Black Lives Matter DC. “That this case was indicative of all things that we’ve been saying – the way that it’s being handled.”
Black Lives Matter DC continues to question transparency in the Sterling case. Following the closed door meeting, the group’s words towards D.C. Police Union chairman Matthew Mahl are personal.
Black Lives Matter DC said in a news release that “Sergeant Mahl is no stranger to criminal behavior on the job,” citing a use of force incident back in 2015.
Documents, including the use of force report, obtained by FOX 5 confirmed, “Sergeant Mahl struck a handcuffed prisoner in the face after he was kicked in the groin by the prisoner.” Two separate review boards found Mahl’s use of force was unjustified and recommended a suspension that could have meant his termination from the force.
But sources confirmed to FOX 5 his suspension was quietly overturned by D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier just days after Mahl became police union chairman. Sources said it was an unprecedented move.
“To dismiss his case of police brutality the same week that he becomes president, I think that merged the solidarity between the [police] department and the [police] union,” said Goggans. “I think his idea of doing that is to build power.”
According to sources, disciplinary action against Mahl includes a police-involved shooting in 2007 and two unpaid suspensions in 2013 and 2015.
The problem being it leads to even more questions.
My question is about the Gun that was supposedly found…
It looks one hell of a lot like a Cop “Holdout” gun from days gone by. It would be heavy, difficult to conceal…and a good way to blow your foot off due to the single safety system. It is a Smith and Wesson, which at one time was pretty standard issue in Police forces in 380 Auto.
I lean towards the gun being a plant at this point. As to the Blunt…That kind of puts the icing on that.
The whole video available on NBC shows the wife screaming at the officers not to shoot – that her husband has a brain injury …And that he does not have a gun.
The video is shaky and unclear – but raises some important questions…
Mentally ill man. With knife, and a gun invisible to everyone except the Cops. These Sacramento Cops are in no danger – and make no effort whatsoever to try and deescalate the situation or to bring the victim down by less lethal means.
The surveillance video obtained by The Bee shows Mann running from police as officers converge on him. They are still some distance away when he turns to face them and raises and lowers his arm three times. It’s not clear from the video what – if anything – he is holding. Two officers then fire a barrage of shots. Mann crumples to the ground. Officers approach him, and at least two of them appear to nudge him with their feet.
Witnesses said they called police after seeing Mann urinate on himself and tap at an imaginary keyboard on a residential street in North Sacramento. Witnesses also said he was tossing a knife in the air, catching it by the handle. The knife had a 4-inch blade, according to a police official.
When police arrived, a cruiser began following Mann as he made his way off the side street and onto Del Paso Boulevard.
Police were yelling at Mann to drop the knife, and Mann was yelling threats back at the officers, according to witnesses.
Mann then ran across Del Paso Boulevard, performing karate-type moves. More officers arrived, and Mann ran toward an “officer’s vehicle with a knife held above his head,” according to a police news release.
“The subject turned back towards them, armed with a knife. Fearing for their lives and the safety of the community, two officers discharged their firearms striking the man multiple times,” according to the news release.
Officers fired 18 rounds, hitting Mann 14 times, Somers said.
The family of a mentally ill black man seeks justice after Sacramento police finally showed them video of officers gunning down 50-year-old Joseph Mann during a foot chase in July.
Mann’s family has been asking to see video evidence of the shooting captured by a surveillance cameras, and now that they’ve seen it — they have even more questions,reported KOVR-TV.
The videos show officers open fire on Mann after he stops running, apparently out of breath, and raises a knife toward them standing at least 10 feet away.
Police were called July 11 to North Sacramento, where two 911 callers reported that Mann had a knife and a gun and was acting erratically, although the second caller admitted she did not see the gun herself.
Investigators never found a gun after Mann was fatally shot during the confrontation.
Witnesses said they saw Mann urinate on himself and then begin tapping on an imaginary keyboard, and they called police after seeing him toss a 4-inch knife into the air and catch it by the handle, reported the Sacramento Bee.
A patrol car followed Mann down the street as officers ordered him to drop the knife, but they said he shouted threats at police and then performed karate-style moves.
Police said Mann then charged the patrol car with the knife held above his head, and officers, “fearing for their lives and the safety of the community,” fired 18 rounds at the man, striking him 14 times.
Mann’s family faulted police for failing to de-escalate the 11-minute encounter with a mentally ill suspect.
“For them to just get out they cars and start shooting my brother, you know, being judge, jury and God — it’s just not right,” said Robert Mann, the slain man’s brother.
The family’s attorney said dashboard camera video shows Mann was not as much of a threat to officers as police have said, and the surveillance video shows he was several feet away from the police who opened fire on him.
“He was gesturing and pointing,” said attorney John Burris. “He was not lunging or charging, so from a police point of view, they should not have used deadly force at that time. They were in a position of safety. They could have remained in a position of safety.”
Mann’s family wants the officers involved in the fatal shooting to be fired immediately and prosecuted.
They have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit and a claim against the city charging that officers “confronted and aggressively pursued” Mann before fatally shooting him.
By now, I am sure many of my readers have heard about the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott – who the Police claimed had a gun.
The reason I don’t believe the Police story is this – Keith Lamont Scott had a child in Day Care in the building adjacent to where he was parked. He regularly picked the child up there on his way home. He had been seen there by numerous witnesses previously, sitting in his car waiting for the the children to be released, often reading a book. At least one witness claims that was just what he was doing on the afternoon when Police mistook him for another man they were looking for for a crime…And shot him.
I just don’t see a Dad, waiting for his kid either 1) wanting to start gunfire around his child, or 2) Carrying a gun to the daycare center. And if the guy isn’t guilty of any crime…
Like previous instances where the Police story doesn’t match reality, suddenly the Police Car Dash cameras, and body cameras weren’t working.
The man appears to be walking with his hands above his head.
The Tulsa, Oklahoma, police department on Monday released several videos showing last week’s fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a white female officer.
Terence Crutcher, 40, was shot and killed Friday after officers responding to an unrelated call spotted his vehicle stalled in the middle of the roadway, Tulsa World reports. The police department earlier said Crutcher refused orders to put up his hands, but the footage appears to show him walking toward his vehicle with his hands above his head.
The officer who fired the fatal shot has been identified as Betty Shelby. A second officer, Tyler Turnbough, deployed a stun gun, the Associated Press reports.
During a press conference on Monday, Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan called the video footage “very disturbing — it’s very difficult to watch.” He said there was no gun found on Crutcher or in his vehicle.
“I will just make this promise to you: We will achieve justice in this case,” Jordan said. “I want to assure our community and I want to assure all of you and people across the nation who are going to be looking at this: We will achieve justice ― period.”
At a separate news conference, Damario Solomon-Simmons, an attorney for Crutcher’s family, said the department’s claim that Crutcher died at the hospital was not true.
“Terence died on that street in his own blood, without any help,” the lawyer said.
“We saw that Terence did not have any weapon,” Solomon-Simmons said. “We saw that Terence did not make any sudden movements. We saw that Terence was not being belligerent. We did not see Terence reach into the car. We did not see Terence attacking the officers.”
As seen in the video, more than two minutes go by before officers begin administering aid to Crutcher after he was shot.
The police chief said an investigation of the incident is ongoing. The U.S. Department of Justice will conduct a separate civil rights inquiry into the shooting, AP reports.
“Let’s not have any more death over this,” he said.
So far in 2016, 19 people have been killed by police officers in Oklahoma, giving the state the sixth highest per-capita rate of killings by police in the U.S, according to statistics compiled by The Guardian. Last year, Oklahoma ranked No. 4 per capita with 37 killings, the Guardian data showed.
In April, Robert Bates, a former volunteer reserve Tulsa County sheriff’s deputy, was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter for the 2015 shooting death of Eric Harris, another unarmed black man.
Like many other states, Oklahoma has a disproportionately high rate of black people being killed by police, according to the website Mapping Police Violence.
The head of the Philippines police has said more than 1,900 people have been killed during a crackdown on illegal drugs in the past seven weeks.
Ronald dela Rosa was speaking at a senate hearing into the sharp rise in deaths since Rodrigo Duterte became president.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, their country’s Chumph (Trump) urged people to shot and kill drug dealers.
He said police operations had killed about 750 people, but the other deaths were still being investigated.
Mr Duterte won the presidency with his hard-line policy to eradicate drugs.
He has previously urged citizens to shoot and kill drug dealers who resisted arrest, and reiterated that the killings of drug suspects were lawful if the police acted in self-defence.
He also threatened to “separate” from the UN after it called his war on drugs a crime under international law.
The US has said it is “deeply concerned” by the increase in drug-related killings.
The senate joint inquiry is being conducted by Senator Leila de Lima, who has called on authorities to explain the “unprecedented” rise in deaths.
It is also hearing from the relatives of some of those killed.
Mr dela Rosa told the inquiry on Tuesday that a total of 1,916 deaths had been recorded during the crackdown, 756 of which were during police operations.
He said the number had gone up even since he gave evidence on Monday, where he gave a figure of 1,800 deaths.
“Not all deaths under investigations are drug-related,” he told news agency Reuters, saying about 40 killings were due to robbery or personal disputes.
However, Mr dela Rosa said there was no declared policy to kill drug users and pushers, saying police were “not butchers”.
The police director-general also added that about 300 police officers were suspected to be involved in the drugs trade, warning that they would be charged and removed from their positions if found guilty.
Nearly 700,000 drug users and peddlers have turned themselves in since the launch of the campaign, Mr dela Rosa said.
He also said that there was a decrease in overall crime, though the number of homicides and murders had increased.
On Monday, Mr dela Rosa told the inquiry: “I admit many are dying but our campaign, now, we have the momentum.
Former South Carolina police officer Michael Slager has been sentenced to at least 19 years in jail over the killing of Walter Scott, a black man whom Slager had shot in the back as he was trying to flee.
Btx3's Blog 