Police Deserve to Make It Home. So Did Walter Scott
Where Are The Good Cops?
COMMENTARY
I don’t know what kind of man Walter Scott was before he was shot in the back while fleeing from an officer in North Charleston, South Carolina. In the hours since the video of his death has been made public, I have learned that he was a member of the Coast Guard, had been arrested, and that he owed some child support. But those facts do not lead me to believe I have a solid understanding on who Walter Scott was. I do, however, know that the fallout from the video of his death has already begun to progress as these things do. Soon, I’m certain we will be warned not to lump all cops in with the North Charleston, South Carolina officer charged with murder. We’ll be told that most cops are “good’’ cops.
But if so many cops are good, why are we here again?
Fifty-year-old Walter Scott did not pose a significant threat to the life of 33-year-old North Charleston police officer Michael T. Slager when he was sprinting away from him with his back turned. The law permits an officer to use deadly force if and only if the suspect “poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.’’
Based on what we already know, I do not believe Scott was a threat to Slager. Because Slager has already lied about one key point.
Slager pulled over a Mercedes-Benz with a broken tail light. Scott was its driver. Scott allegedly ran away from Slager into a grassy knoll, and, according to police reports, was undeterred by the firing of Slager’s stun gun.
So Slager shot at him eight times, bringing him to the ground and mortally wounding him. And then he radioed in, telling dispatch that the suspect had taken his stun gun. The stun gun he used before the gun used to kill the suspect.
The New York Times published this video of the incident, taken by a bystander. It contains some graphic content.
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Not only does Scott, who was running from his car, not appear to have any weapon, he is running full speed away from Slager, the significance of his threat diminishing with each step in the opposite direction.
Slager, who has been fired, is facing a murder charge thanks to the video. If it had been up to his fellow officers, he might still be a free man, peddling a story about self-defense.
Until the video was released, we would have had to take Slager’s word. Slager’s attorney told a local news affiliate that his client believed he followed procedure.
And it is worth noting that South Carolina law requires only one working tail light.
There is little doubt that the race to humanize Scott’s killer will move more quickly than Scott ever could have. We could call Slager one bad cop and let it end there.
But there was another officer in the video of Scott’s death. One who arrived after the shooting.
North Charleston police officer Michael Slager.
Did he report the facts as they appeared? If not he’s no good, either. He appeared to stand by as Slager dropped or planted an object by a dying man. Does the lack of good cops end there?
We fawn over police when they hug black boys, even if the photo is staged. We bask in their glory when they play basketball with local kids, even when they try to arrest them days later for reasons unknown.
But we never seem to have enough of them to stem police shooting black citizens. They’re rare, it seems.
We never have enough in a city, or a state, or a nation, who actively separate themselves from bad cops, stand up, and draw a line in the sand. The chief, in a press conference, reduced the killing of Scott to “a bad decision.’’ If the separation of bad cops is too much to ask, can we ask for cops willing to call BS on tired and oft-disproved allegations of black men rushing officers and reaching for weapons?
Yet we as a nation seem to believe that the majority of police are good. At the very least, they’re not bad enough to indict.
The majority of American police will never serve a community as tranquil as Andy Griffith’s Mayberry. Drugs, alcohol, domestic violence, and homicide are a part of their job description. They very often fear for their lives. They face incredible risk. As I write this, Boston officer John Moynihan is recovering from a gunshot to the face incurred in the line of duty.
North Charleston police officer Michael Slager is seen standing over 50-year-old Walter Scott.
The majority of officers will never witness, much less take part in, any circumstances like those surrounding the death of Scott. But every officer knows full well that they happen. Yet the shootings continue.
It is worth noting that the police report in the Scott case says officers performed CPR and administered first aid. The video, in which a third officer eventually appears, shows no such occurrences.
Police deserve to return home in one piece. But that does not give them the space to distort or omit the truth when lives are at stake. Because black folk deserve to get home in one piece, too.
If nothing else, the ouster of known bad cops may make life easier on the remaining “good’’ ones.
We’ve told ourselves that good cops are in the majority, even though they’ve yet to excercise majority rule. If “good’’ cops are simply cops who don’t shoot and kill unarmed, fleeing suspects, what do we call the cop who may or may not have filed a truthful report, the cop who stood by as Slager tried to make the scene match his story?
And why shouldn’t Scott, or any other black man, not run from police, if these are the cops who pass for good?
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