North Carolina Police Create Suspicion And Anger In Declining To Release Footage Showing The Shooting Death Of Black Motorist Keith Lamont Scott By Cop

September 23. 2016

Keith Lamont Scott, his wife and son

Protests turned into riots in North Carolina after 43-year-old black motorist Keith Lamont Scott was shot and killed by police. The officer who pulled the trigger is a black. Police officials state Scott was carrying a gun and ordered to drop the weapon. However, witnesses to the murder stated he did not point a gun at police, but was reading a book in his car, while waiting for the school bus to drop off his son.

North Carolina police officials first insisted Scott had a gun and brandished the weapon. However, when asked to release dash cam and body cam footage of the shooting death, police declined. Police Chief, Kerr Putney, is now changing his story stating the video of the shooting does NOT illustrate, “Absolute, definitive evidence that would confirm that a person was pointing a gun.” It should be noted, North Carolina is an open carry state, where people are permitted to have weapons on display.

When Scott was ordered to exit the vehicle, he complied. Scott exited the car and slowly walked backwards away from the officer. That is not an aggressive stance. Someone who is an imminent threat would walk towards the officer. However, this is the pattern we keep seeing: black men surrendering to law enforcement in submissive stances and getting shot and killed anyway.

Associated Press: Witness Says Charlotte Man Not Armed When Shot  

We’ve even seen a black man running away from police only to be chased down, shot in the back several times, his face pushed into the ground to the point of suffocation to ensure death and a gun planted beside his lifeless body (South Carolina Police Officer Charged With Murder For Shooting A Fleeing Black Man In The Back 8 Times Then Framing Him For Theft).

We've also seen a black woman framed by police, then exonerated by mobile phone audio and video showing she was the innocent victim of their crimes [Cop Tases Woman For Filming Him Engaging In Police Brutality, Calls Her A 'Dumb B***h' And Lies Stating She Tried To Run Him Over (Video)].

We've seen cops frame up a number of black people who went to prison for crimes they did not commit (4 Florida Cops Fired For Slurring Black People And Planting Evidence Sending Innocent Minorities To Prison Which Casts Prosecutorial Doubt On Over 50 Criminal Convictions (Video)). There are but a few of many examples. Incidents such as these have fuelled public distrust of police.

Protester, Justin Carr, was killed by police

So let's not pretend that some cops do not engage in police brutality, lie in reports about excessive force, tamper with evidence and plant items at crime scenes to frame up innocent people. It has happened many times in well documented cases. Black men in particular are being framed and hunted by police and it is murder. That's not justifiable homicide.

The protests that ensued in North Carolina turned into riots. People were attacked and businesses and vehicles were destroyed, which is all regrettable. Violence only begets more violence. In future, please refrain from turning peaceful protests into scenes of violence. I understand your anger in North Carolina, but don't turn to violence and vandalism. Don't destroy your communities. Be the dignified people I know you are and keep things peaceful.

In closing, irrespective of the fact the officer who shot Scott is black, based on witness accounts and the inability of police to present video to corroborate his story of Scott pointing a gun at him, he needs to be charged with murder and imprisoned for killing a submissive man that witnesses stated was reading a book in his car. How many times have you, as a member of the public, sat in a car waiting for someone, minding your own business, while reading a book, newspaper or your phone. No one deserves to be killed for that.

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