Keith Scott shooting video released: http://www.wbaltv.com/news/nbc-news-obtains-shooting-video-from-charlotte/41796588 Inconclusive is an understatement.
Yeah, I didn't realize when I posted it that it was footage provided by the widow. Stupid article should have mentioned that little fact, but it didn't.
I hadn't seen it mentioned in here yet, but dude has (had?) quite the criminal record. Interesting to find out he got seven years for assault with a deadly weapon near where I live. This doesn't mean he deserved to die, that the police were correct in killing him, or anything like that. But it does make the protests look rather absurd in light of the fact that he was breaking the law by simply having a gun on him (it is fact that there was a gun at the scene; whether it was in his hands or pointed at police is the debatable part).
Is that the footage the Mayor watched? http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/22/us/charlotte-protests/index.html According to the family, he didn't have a gun, didn't own a gun, and didn't habitually carry one. Yet, those who watched the video say he has a gun and was wearing an ankle holster.
I believe the concern was "the timing of releasing it". Which says basically nothing about who it makes look bad. My question is: despite what it may reveal if you release it how could it possibly get worse? You already declared a state of emergency.
If he pulled a gun and pointed it at the cops, and it was on camera, it would have been released 5 minutes after it happened.
We'll see. Like it or not it will get released eventually because the media will sue them for it. Considering past video releases, when they delay the release usually it's because some sort of damage control is being prepared. That considered, odds are it could be a bad shoot.
It can very easily get worse... people will interpret it in a way to further their own narrative. I have no problem with them keeping it contained within the circles of the people that are immediately impacted and involved with it. There's no reason to feed the mass media with it, especially if it's shitty footage that will result in every newsroom having 9 different video analysis experts come up with 9 different interpretations. While I believe in body cameras, etc, for police, I don't believe that they should be freely released. There should be a review process to ensure that the rights of the victims and the police involved are taken care of, and it should be done with non-police, third-party oversight of some sort.
I think the public's demand for shooting footage to be released is because of past instances where the cop isn't charged with anything until the footage is made public. The Chicago shooting would be an example. The body cameras I'm torn on because while they provide the best footage you could ask for, cops are turning them off. Recently three cops in Arizona were "forced to resign" after they forced a kid to eat the weed they found in his car. They turned their cameras off before doing this. It's not like you can penalize a cop for turning it off, because what if one actually does malfunction? Despite the slight pessimism I still think every single cop should be wearing one. Some police departments have the cameras rigged so they can't turn off while the police cruiser's strobe lights are on. Smart idea. America needs the Police Watchdog program like we have here. A completely seperate government department that investigates complaints during police arrests and investigations. They aren't cops and don't work next to the police. The mere presence of such an organization surely plays into the factor of why we have so much less police violence per capita in Canada.
This is the first "protester" that I've seen that I 100% get behind in all of this shit. It's pretty fucking interesting to see how the different people there react and behave.
ii You nailed everything 100%. That video I linked to? It's on Huffpo and the comments are "Fucking police!" "I knew it was a bad shooting!" and all sorts of bullshit that I have no idea how they inferred from that short clip. You can't tell shit from that video, but somehow the commenters know the police are wrong. That's not helping anything. As far as releasing the police footage to the public, folks are howling and demanding it like it's their right to see it and they are personally invested in the incident. As the general public, no you're not invested. At all. The police did show it to the family which is a major step forward from previous incidents. The general public seems to think they're entitled to see the footage too and they're not. The local police are not doing the investigation, it's being handled by the state and probably the DoJ. Though I have my doubts about the DoJ to do anything correctly or fairly, but that's a whole different discussion.
We saw the movie "Sully" last weekend where everyone tossed around the word "hero." Chesley Sullenberger performed admirably under extreme circumstances, and as his character stated, he was doing his job. To me, the guy in the video is a hero, because he is going out of his way to make a difference, and I admire him. Also, I wish I could punch the short girl right in the mouth.
Love that guy. True humanitarian. Another testament as to how live feeds are the best form of "news" nowadays because these videos aren't brought to you by bias networks. Its unrehearsed, uncensored and doesn't lie.
Here's a local news station running a live feed on the Charlotte protest. A lot better than the mainstream stuff. Last night the correspondent was walking along when a car got stopped by some rioters, dude jumped out and pulled a gun on them. The correspondent's reaction was kinda funny.