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A MAN WHO recorded the chilling video of a white police officer gunning down a black man said that the shooting followed a struggle in which the cop had gained control of the situation.
Peaceful protests were held in the evening, with demonstrators saying the quick arrest of the officer averted violent unrest of the kind that erupted in similar cases elsewhere in the US.
The now widely-distributed video of South Carolina officer Michael Slager shooting Walter Scott repeatedly in the back was recorded by 23-year-old Feidin Santana.
The video sparked public outcry and led to a murder charge against the policeman after it challenged the officer’s account of the shooting that took place in the coastal city of North Charleston.
Mayor Keith Summey announced that he’s ordering 150 more body cameras so that every uniformed officer on the street will wear one, a key demand of the Black Lives Matter movement that is growing nationwide. Police Chief Eddie Driggers said:
I have watched the video. And I was sickened by what I saw. And I have not watched it since.
The shooting is America’s latest high-profile police killing of a black man by white officers. A string of such shootings of unarmed victims, where officers are rarely charged, have sparked protests around the country with demonstrators alleging racism in the nation’s police forces.
“Before I started recording, they were down on the floor. I remember the police (officer) had control of the situation,” Santana said in an interview with NBC television about what he witnessed in the moments before filming started.
He had control of Scott. And Scott was trying just to get away from the Taser (stun gun).
“I knew right away, I had something on my hands,” he said about recording the video.
Slager was arrested and charged with murder after the video surfaced showing him shooting eight times at Scott, 50, while Scott was running away.
He was fired from the police force on Wednesday after being charged with murder.
Slager could face a sentence of up to life in prison or the death penalty.
Mayor Keith Summey announced the sacking at a highly-charged press conference frequently interrupted by residents angered over the killing.
Dozens of protesters gathered in front of City Hall throughout the day Wednesday and into the night.
Protesters observed a minute of silence while holding candles. One man wore a T-shirt with the slogan ‘driving while black is not a crime.’
“Tonight is a mixed emotion. Your heart aches for the family of Walter Scott, your soul is excited for the possibility of having justice,” said Bakari Sellers, 30, a black attorney and former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.
“Things in Charleston would have been worse than things in Ferguson had he not been arrested, if that video hadn’t been released,” said Michael Brown, 34, a black community organizer in North Charleston.
He was referring to the police shooting of an unarmed young man by the same name in Ferguson, Missouri last August. The officer was not charged.
I wonder if someone did take him out 30 years ago, would Zimbabwe be the basket case he turned it into, or would some other “leader”, equally malingnant have just taken his place.
It’s tempting to write Africa off, but these things are not inevitable. The neighbours in Botswana were a landlocked, diamond rich former colony. Not an obvious candidate for success. And yet they were, partly because of Seretse Khama’s leadership, but also because people kept voting for him.
Unfortunately, for every relative success story there are 50 failed states. Nation building is hard and requires guts, enterprise, selflessness and vision. Mugabe wasn’t even asked to nation build. He was handed a fully functioning, very rich and successful country and managed to level it in less than a generation. That takes mean spiritness, stupidity, and the most crass selfishness and myopic vision, which, unfortunately, seems to be the calibre of most African leaders. Take and destroy is what they do and in the meantime, the west continues to do what the west does best. Assuage our feelings of western guilt by feeding, clothing and vaccinating the Africans left behind by their very own “leaders”.
We can write much of Africa off if the Chinese economy falters, And also, we can take Australia with it.
Problem with africa is its full of africans
“Unfortunate event”
In who’s eyes ????
Funny that at Mandela’s memorial when the camera would go to different world leaders the crowd would cheer or boo depending on who it was on. Mugabe got a massive cheer and Bush Jnr got a massive boo. Ya no your screwed when Mugabe gets a bigger cheer than ya!
It was an ANC crowd at the funeral & Mugabe was a big supporter if the ANC during apartheid times so I’d be sure that’s why he was cheered rather than for his recent policies.
That says a lot more about the crowd than it does about Bush Jr.
Whatever you can accuse Bush Jr. of, laying waste to his country, starving his people, killing the productive farmers and having an ugly greedy, mean wife isnt among them. An ANC crowd can turn into a vicious mob at the turn of a hair. Being rational abd discerning is not their thing.
Hurricane Katrina anyone? ;)
Sadly, probably the latter.
Problem with Africa is the tribal government system, and the mentality of it’s people.
@coom
Same could be said for a lot of countries..including ours!
Christina who wrote that paper? Dept of the Taoiseach?
While it is true that Robert Mugabe has a few character flaws, it cannot be denied that he is an active leader who stands up for his people. Much better than the shower we have running this country, he is. You can bet Robert Mugabe would have burned the bondholders and sent the IMF home with a flea in their ear.
Pity he didn’t have a fatal “accident” here.
Proably after totruring them first…Thing is we can elect another incompetant shower to govern us.Mugabe is there forever like a big black blood sucking tick on Zimbabwae.But then thats what happens if you let Marxist gun waving loons loose on a perfectly functioning and producing ,albeit not without is fault state.Turn it into a dictatorship that makes the previous oppression by whomever look like paradise.
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