Black S.C. Officer fires 6 shots at a white VN Vet

[whitehall]

In a shocking dashboard video tape you see a White male getting out of a pickup and reaching into the bed for a cane with the Officer screaming "drop the gun". Next thing you know six shots are fired by the Officer and hit all over the truck with one hitting the poor guy standing there. It turns out the driver is a Vietnam Vet coming home from a NASCAR event with his wife and he screams "it's a cane" and the Officer is heard to exclaim "oh shit". You gotta wonder though why there isn't much outrage when the assisting officer on the scene is overheard to say "you did the right thing" and the sheriff says the same thing. Of course he did not do the right thing.

 

[Katzndogz]

I saw that whole video. The officer saw a man reach into the back of a pickup truck and take a long slender object out. The officer was screaming drop the gun several times before he fired. As he was firing the officers partner could clearly be heard saying "it's a walking stick". The black officer immediately stopped firing and ran to the fallen man. The officer started sobbing saying "I'm so sorry. I thought it was a gun." That's when the other officer said he did the right thing.

From the video it is impossible to tell if the pickup truck driver is a vet or even that he was 70 years old. It's a man taking something out of the back of a pick up truck that from a distance and at night looked like a gun. That the man put the object end down against the ground is the only thing the officer should have picked up on. The driver of the truck should have realized that the cane had been mistaken for a gun and dropped it. Two mistakes of the same kind.

Fortunately everyone will be just fine.

 

[whitehall]

The victim didn't fit the profile of a carjacker, terrorist or maniac. There apparently was no alert to be aware of a dangerous character in a pickup. The Officer made an assumption which was not based on any valid reason. He was relatively safe and he could have and should have had a better grasp on the situation. Apparently the officer is on paid leave while the matter is under investigation but the fact that the sheriff indicated that he "did the right thing" indicates that he will be back on the road soon. At least he should have an eye examination and maybe further firearms training.

 

[Politico]

You're a racist douche we get it.