Rashomon Shootout

Very interesting video from Patterico.

A cop-car video-camera shows the police apparently shooting an unarmed man who is simply walking away from them.

Patterico notes:

Sure, the police claim that the suspect was armed. And they claim that he pointed a gun at police, twice.

But you just watched the video clip. It is clearly inconsistent with all of these police claims.

My question is: if the police were put on trial for this shooting, can you imagine any possible defense that could overcome this video?

I trust that your answer is: “Hell, no!�

He also writes that riots have started over less than this (except, um, the man shot appears to be white, so there won't be any rioting... could be prosecutions of the officers and a huge lawsuit against the city, though).

A second cop video camera has a better view of the action, and shows the man carrying what appears to be a gun and spinning around to aim it at the cops. The cops don't fire before that; they keep their weapons trained on him, but don't fire until he threatens them.

Video doesn't lie, exactly, but it also doesn't tell the whole truth. At least not from one angle.

posted by Ace at 12:00 PM

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