Video shows South Carolina police officer shoot fleeing unarmed black man eight times in the back

It was a verbal exchange. No matter what was said, it was VERBAL. What thing could this man have possibly said that resulted in "I must shoot him quickly, without hesitation, and with so many bullets that he is totally guaranteed to die on the ground?" If the man said "I wanna kill my ex wife," the appropriate response is to arrest him. The officer makes no attempt.

And if somehow this man said one of the few phrases on Earth which necessitated immediate death, why did the police officer not say it? He's being charged for murder. But neither he nor the police department said anything. And when they did make a statement (before the video), he lied and was caught in this lie.

And if the phrase did necessitate death (somehow), why did the officer feel the need to plant evidence on the victim? Why do that when you're completely in the right?

"You may act a little differently if your life was in danger."

The police officer is clearly not in danger. The man is unarnmed, out of shape and very slowly RUNNING AWAY. It is a physical impossibility for the man to pose a threat to the cop's life because he has no means to injure the officer.

"He runs. That is asking for trouble."

Agreed. But opening fire is not the appropriate response. This isn't how cops are trained.

I get that you agree with a lot of the statement, but it really irks me how somehow the fact that not every single second of the confrontation was recorded means the officer was somehow justified. What we saw clearly showed enough. And if somehow it was not enough, there was an eye-witness who could testify to what he didn't manage to capture on video. And if the guy didn't see it, the officer did. But neither has provided any extenuating details.

/r/news Thread Parent Link - nytimes.com