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Fast Money & Foreign Objects
South Carolina police officer charged with murder after shooting man during traffic stop
By Mark Berman April 7 at 5:21 PM
the Post and Courier.
Authorities stressed that the episode in South Carolina was not indicative of the city’s entire police force of 343 officers, instead calling this a singular “bad decision” made by one officer.
“I think all of these police officers, men and women, are like my children,” Driggers said. “So you tell me how a father would react to seeing his father do something? I’ll let you answer that.”
Slager was initially represented by David Aylor, a local attorney, who in a statement provided to local media soon after the shooting said: “I believe once the community hears all the facts of this shooting, they’ll have a better understanding of the circumstances surrounding this investigation.”
But on Tuesday, shortly before Slager’s arrest was announced, Aylor told The Post that he is no longer representing the officer.
“I don’t have any involvement in that case moving forward,” he said. “No involvement.”
This was the 11th time an officer has shot someone in South Carolina so far this year, according to Thom Berry, a spokesman for the state Law Enforcement Division. Berry said that the investigation into this shooting is “still very much in progress,” so he declined to comment on details of how the agency obtained the video footage.
Although officers fatally shoot and kill hundreds of people each year, only a handful of cases result in the officer facing criminal charges. Video recordings of the fatal encounters are becoming pivotal factors in whether prosecutors and grand jurors bring charges, experts said.
“Video has changed everything because it provides documentation that was never available before,” said Philip M. Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University. “Now, everyday citizens, when they recognize there is a dispute, they start recording video with their smart phones.”
However, these recordings do not always result in officers being charged. Footage of a New York City police officer placing Eric Garner in a chokehold last summer provoked widespread outrage, but the grand jury decided not to indict the officer.
Officials and activists in South Carolina said they were asking the community to keep calm in the wake of the video’s release and the decision to seek murder charges against him.
“We want to ask the community to remain calm,” Elder Johnson of National Action Network said Tuesday.
[Wesley Lowery and Kimberly Kindy contributed to this report.]
This is a breaking news story and will be updated. First published: 5:21 p.m.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...charged-with-murder-after-shooting/?tid=sm_fb
By Mark Berman April 7 at 5:21 PM
the Post and Courier.
Authorities stressed that the episode in South Carolina was not indicative of the city’s entire police force of 343 officers, instead calling this a singular “bad decision” made by one officer.
“I think all of these police officers, men and women, are like my children,” Driggers said. “So you tell me how a father would react to seeing his father do something? I’ll let you answer that.”
Slager was initially represented by David Aylor, a local attorney, who in a statement provided to local media soon after the shooting said: “I believe once the community hears all the facts of this shooting, they’ll have a better understanding of the circumstances surrounding this investigation.”
But on Tuesday, shortly before Slager’s arrest was announced, Aylor told The Post that he is no longer representing the officer.
“I don’t have any involvement in that case moving forward,” he said. “No involvement.”
This was the 11th time an officer has shot someone in South Carolina so far this year, according to Thom Berry, a spokesman for the state Law Enforcement Division. Berry said that the investigation into this shooting is “still very much in progress,” so he declined to comment on details of how the agency obtained the video footage.
Although officers fatally shoot and kill hundreds of people each year, only a handful of cases result in the officer facing criminal charges. Video recordings of the fatal encounters are becoming pivotal factors in whether prosecutors and grand jurors bring charges, experts said.
“Video has changed everything because it provides documentation that was never available before,” said Philip M. Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University. “Now, everyday citizens, when they recognize there is a dispute, they start recording video with their smart phones.”
However, these recordings do not always result in officers being charged. Footage of a New York City police officer placing Eric Garner in a chokehold last summer provoked widespread outrage, but the grand jury decided not to indict the officer.
Officials and activists in South Carolina said they were asking the community to keep calm in the wake of the video’s release and the decision to seek murder charges against him.
“We want to ask the community to remain calm,” Elder Johnson of National Action Network said Tuesday.
[Wesley Lowery and Kimberly Kindy contributed to this report.]
This is a breaking news story and will be updated. First published: 5:21 p.m.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...charged-with-murder-after-shooting/?tid=sm_fb
