http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article103973781.html Police on Saturday gave this account of the fatal encounter: Two officers in plain clothes were in an unmarked car waiting to serve a warrant when Scott’s white SUV pulled in beside of them. They saw Scott roll what they believed to be a marijuana “blunt.” They returned to watching for their suspect when they saw Scott hold up a gun. They withdrew to a spot nearby and put on duty vests that said “Police” and equipment that would identify them as officers. When they came back, Scott still had the gun. They identified themselves as police officers, the department said, and told him loudly and repeatedly to drop the weapon. Scott did not comply. Then a uniformed officer in a marked SUV drove up to assist and the officer started pounding on the front passenger window. Scott then got out with the gun and backed away, police said, but did not drop the weapon. Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article103973781.html#storylink=cpy
my guess is that they didn't see anything. They just approached the guy to see if he was the guy they were looking for and things went sideways.
Not to say this couldn't be the case, but unless you are a psychic or mind reader you don't know. Let's just say this was the case - the cops did make a mistake but just by chance they "got lucky" and they came across another crime (or suspicion of a crime) in progress, that being Keith Scott. That kind of shit does happen occasionally. So what could have turned into an arrest went south when Scott wasn't working and playing well with others. He's been arrested before and has a history of resisting arrest. This just could be (we will never know) a spur-of-the-moment "suicide by cop" when Scott realized that between a convicted felon caught in the act of committing a crime (the weed) and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, he would likely be looking at a long stretch behind bars. Again, at this point we just don't know. What we do know is that Mr. Scott: 1. was breaking the law by even having a gun 2. he had the gun in his hand (hence the cries of "drop the gun! Drop the gun!" No cop said "drop the book") so it would seem Mr. Scott did indeed have a gun in his hand 3. the cops gave him ample time to drop the gun - they didn't just fire instantly at first opportunity 4. the ball was truly in the court of Mr. Scott. Hundreds if not thousands of people get arrested every day in North Carolina statewide, and all of them except Mr. Scott lived to tell the tale 5. this is a tragedy 6. rioters suck, peaceful protesters are exercising their right to free speech & lawful assembly and their opinions must be tolerated and their rights protected
Looking at the footage they shot him real fast. They were yelling and gibbering making the entire incident far more stressful than it needed to be. What were they all so jacked up for?
So the cops performed their duties exactly as they were trained to and within the confines of the law. HOW DARE THEY! BTW even though he was backing up, any rounds he were to fire (had he fired first) would leave the barrel of his gun exactly as advertised and kill somebody. The takeaway lesson here is: you mess with the bull, you might get the horns
anyone care to add anything to my face palm? Anybody with any military or law enforcement experience please weigh in here - I'm not even going to try to step into this quick sand this late at night.
I don't know. Maybe because he was, according to the police and witnesses, brandishing a gun? Also, it seemed clear to me that they were yelling at him to drop said gun.
Don't some law enforcement agencies have the ability to tell certain medical conditions throuigh digital scanners like pstd or brain injury. The these cops went off on their own when they were suppose to be doing soemting else undercover. A bit like chief and boomer..Thought you werent suppose to leave watches in military or law enforcemn. Romans and greeks would have been to happy with people abandoning a watch.
"Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come
Romans and Greeks didn't have watches. They weren't invented until the late 1600's and sucked pretty bad until the mid to late 1700's.
No really, there was plenty of room for calming down. The cops jacked the stress up in the situation. Perhaps the problem is we have cowardly and twitchy people being cops.
They've got a known felon, seen in a car with drugs and a firearm who knows he's been made and who, thanks to the Clintons, is facing a long stay in jail. That often makes felons very desperate because they don't like going back to jail for a long, long time. So they try to get him to get out and put his hands in the air, while using a truck in between them as cover. But he doesn't drop his gun or put his hands in the air. He starts backing up to get a good firing angle for his great getting up day when he's going out fighting. They kept telling him to put down the gun, but he wouldn't. So one of the officers, a black man, made a tactical decision to protect his fellow officers by not letting things get into a wild shoot out against a close-in and maneuvering target.
Great armchair general/Monday morning quarterbacking Tererun! Blame everyone except the one guy who could have kept Keith Scott alive in this situation....Keith Scott himself. BTW I wonder since "hands up, don't shoot!" is played out we need another inaccurate, simplistic chant for protesters - how about "he has no weapon!" for example?
I knew he shot someone in the past, I thought his record said he beat that rap, but I might have read his (lengthy) arrest record wrong. Gee - I wonder when he shot that guy in Texas if the shooting victim's wife screamed "he has no weapon! He just took his medication!" and then finally "did you just shoot him? He better not die!" Live by the gun, die by the gun. Chardee MacDennis might be on to something though. Some sneaky white devil put Krazy Glue all over his gun!
So he was for sure a felon and probably realized that by having that gun in his possession he would be going back to prison. Explains the non-cooperation.
These are the worst undercops in history. THey shouldl have sticked to what they were suppose to do and call traffic.
Apparently their chief-of-police thinks they are fully qualified, because he stands behind them 100 percent. I would say join up with your local police force and show them how to do it right.
The presumptions you have about police and their motivations without any evidence, and ignoring past actions by others.
