Police officer in South Carolina shoots man in the back 8 times.

Mamacalled said:

The truth is policemen are held accountable most of the time but it is not publicly announced. I have a cousin that was with North Charleston PD and he testified against two fellow officers for planting marijuana on a kid to try and get information out of him. The two officers were dismissed and I believe convicted. My cousin has since left North Charleston and has been selected State Law Enforcement of the Year and now runs the Charleston County Bomb Squad.

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Kudos to you cousin. That's wonderful. But I don't call double secret probation and a job transfer accountability. Accountability for a public officer is when that officer has to face the public and answer for his crimes. True personnel matters are one thing, but criminal activity and abuse of power/civil right violations are an entirely different matter. Too often those matters are hidden, swept under the rug, or otherwise overlooked by other criminal cops or enablers.

Now, don't get me wrong. I know some cops. Some good cops. Known a few bad cops, too. Have a friend whose family has suffered the loss of a good one. Not all cops are bad. Nowhere near that.

But those who do bad things violate not just the law, but the public trust. Their punishment should be double.

Mystical said:

You can't make this up. A man stole a horse and received a beat down for his trouble. This one may be justified hard to tell if he was resisting. All I can say is at least he is alive.

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I saw that and victim appeared to be white too. Get a some cops adrenalin rushing and there is no telling what will happen.

Mystical said:

You can't make this up. A man stole a horse and received a beat down for his trouble. This one may be justified hard to tell if he was resisting. All I can say is at least he is alive.

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No he wasn't resisting. It certainly wasn't justified. White or black, when are we going to understand it doe not matter? If anyone thinks they're immune to this kind of treatment because of race or social standing they are fooling themselves.

CullmanTide said:

No he wasn't resisting. It certainly wasn't justified. White or black, when are we going to understand it doe not matter? If anyone thinks they're immune to this kind of treatment because of race or social standing they are fooling themselves.

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It does look bad but what's to say they haven't been told the guy might be armed? I know when that is a possibility the police DO NOT take chances. They have to assume that at any point the suspect can access the weapon and fire. I know that is why they pounce so quickly and do not give the suspects a chance to move. That may not be the case here I'm just saying that I'll wait to hear the whole story. If they are fleeing it is usually for a reason that ain't pleasant.


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^^^ Interesting theory, Earle....you may onto something.....

For me...when a detained individual runs/drives away from (or resists in some other form or fashion) from an encounter with law enforcement......the word 'escalate' comes to mind.


es·ca·late
become or cause to become more intense or serious.
"the disturbance escalated into a full-scale riot"

TIDE-HSV said:

One thing's been running through my mind, and this is just musing aloud. All of us who've spent a fair amount of time in the backcountry know the rule that you never, ever flee from a predator, because just the act of fleeing triggers the predatory instinct towards prey. Make no mistake, we are descended from predators, even though, like almost all predators, we've been prey at times. So, the predatory instinct is buried back in our DNA, buffered by millennia of overlying temporal lobe intellect. Could it be that some, faced with a fleeing object get overwhelmed with that ancient instinct and adrenalin and revert to form? Just thinking out loud...

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I think this is a big part of the problem.

When I was much younger ...... I remember watching deer in my greenfield and decided not to shoot but the minute that they got spooked and took off running something would trigger to raise up and take the shot. I didn't always shoot but sometimes I did. In the later years that didn't seem to be as much of an issue.

TIDE-HSV said:

Well, we know that a brief scuffle had ensued. Maybe resistance plus flight is something some people just can't tolerate. Of course, they shouldn't be wearing blue, badge and gun, but how do you winnow them out? The old Indian guy here who was pushed down heavily and ended up partially paralyzed, although the officers knew that he didn't speak or understand a word of English, the last thing said on the video by the dismissed officer was "Don't pull away from me," after he'd grabbed him. Not knowing what was being said, that's a very human reaction, but, rather than de-escalating at that point, the young officer took him down...

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Many cops do a great job of leaving their ego at home - controlling their emotions - focusing on their job to keep the peace - while maintaining law and order of course but the others - I think it's a power trip to some degree.

Maybe they should show old Andy Griffith episodes to these recruits.....no one ever resembled a "peace officer" like Andy did.

TIDE-HSV said:

One thing's been running through my mind, and this is just musing aloud. All of us who've spent a fair amount of time in the backcountry know the rule that you never, ever flee from a predator, because just the act of fleeing triggers the predatory instinct towards prey. Make no mistake, we are descended from predators, even though, like almost all predators, we've been prey at times. So, the predatory instinct is buried back in our DNA, buffered by millennia of overlying temporal lobe intellect. Could it be that some, faced with a fleeing object get overwhelmed with that ancient instinct and adrenalin and revert to form? Just thinking out loud...

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TIDE-HSV said:

Well, we know that a brief scuffle had ensued. Maybe resistance plus flight is something some people just can't tolerate. Of course, they shouldn't be wearing blue, badge and gun, but how do you winnow them out? The old Indian guy here who was pushed down heavily and ended up partially paralyzed, although the officers knew that he didn't speak or understand a word of English, the last thing said on the video by the dismissed officer was "Don't pull away from me," after he'd grabbed him. Not knowing what was being said, that's a very human reaction, but, rather than de-escalating at that point, the young officer took him down...

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Above all others, those entrusted with the public's liberties and lives must be able to rise above our animal instincts.

CajunCrimson said:

They are still human......I think you are looking for Superman.......humans still make mistakes....

Yes, he should be punished for his mistake.....but you can't expect the police to be without flaws.....

It's a terribly sad situation, but to be a policeman in the first place, you have to assume a certain type of person to begin with. I can believe that an animal instinct can kick in.....especially when you feel like your life in on the line.

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No Superman requested or required.

Is it really too much to expect a police officer to refrain from murdering someone in cold blood?!

We ALL face situations in which we may want to hurt someone. If we do follow through with it then for breaking the law we are arrested by...wait for it.....a policeman. Should they not be held to at least the same minimum standard of not egregiously breaking the law? If I lose my cool and kill someone it is at least manslaughter.

I don't expect anyone at all to be without flaws.

I am completely flabbergasted that anyone can defend a cop that kills a citizen in cold blood and then doctors the scene as appears to have happened here.

And to be clear, I support good cops fully. The good are those who attempt to obey the law and can overcome their animalistic drive to unjustly harm and kill people. I know my standards are completely unrealistic, but I'm unwilling to budge on those 2 principles.

Some cops hide behind the badge and misuse and abuse it to do evil. They dishonor those who are good cops. And so do those who defend their behavior. I've known too many good cops to let that slide, not to mention the completely selfish fact that I don't want myself or my kids unjustly killed by a bad cop.

TIDE-HSV said:

He was $30K behind in support and court fees and would be going back to jail if arrested. People do sometimes flee from jail time. They don't generally flee because they have a weapon...

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Agreed. I know a guy (in Lee County, no less) who ran when the law came to his door over several missed court appearances for assorted traffic violations. No one he knew would hide him so he joined some other homeless folks living in a tent in the woods. After going for weeks with no bath or clean clothes, practically starving and shivering from the winter weather, he finally walked over to the county jail and gave himself up.
It's good that he didn't have a gun because he was so miserable that he probably would have used it on himself.