Cop Killed Unarmed Walter Scott, Shooting Him In Back Because He Was Afraid Of His Blackness

The moment Michael Slager calmly shoots and kills Walter Scott

Alan: Notice that Walter Scott ran a considerable distance, trying to get away from Officer Slager, when, at last, the killer cop shot him dead with a bullet in his back.

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http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/12/open-season-on-unarmed-black-men.html

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Officer who shot unarmed Walter Scott from behind basically admits he was afraid of his blackness

Shaun King

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So, we now know the official line of defense that is going to be offered by Michael Slager, the Charleston police officer who shot and killed Walter Scott. According to Slager and his attorney:

Slager didn't know Scott was unarmed, felt threatened, and made a quick decision to shoot because he believed Scott might pull a gun and shoot him first.

What's illogical about this defense is that they are also claiming that Walter Scott attempted to take Michael Slager's gun—even though they are simultaneously claiming the threat that he had one of his own was so real that it warranted shooting him five times in the back while he ran away.

So, even though no evidence whatsoever existed to give Michael Slager any impression that Walter Scott was armed, he's still going to claim that he was afraid for his life. Tragically, it could work, and has actually worked many times.

Blackness, in the eyes of many people, is a weapon.

Amadou Diallo was unarmed but was shot at 41 times by police, more because he was black than because he actually posed a real threat. The NYPD argued that the officers believed his wallet was a gun, and that was all they needed to get off.

Michael Brown was unarmed and had already been shot multiple times by Officer Darren Wilson before he fired the additional fatal shots, but Wilson told the grand jury he still felt very much threatened by Brown.

Sean Bell was shot at 50 times and killed on his wedding day by the NYPD not because he posed an actual threat, but because his blackness was particularly threatening.

Rekia Boyd was shot at and killed by Chicago police when they claimed her boyfriend's cell phone looked like a gun. In that case, the officer didn't even bother to get out of his patrol car.

I could name 100 more cases like this.

The common thread is that police often claim they felt threatened by unarmed African Americans not because a true threat existed, but because they imagined one might exist. And—this is the kicker—in each of those cases, the defense held up in court.

The law is flawed. An imaginary threat should never be enough for police to serve as judge, jury, and executioner.