“We look up to you”: The immigrant who shot the horrific Walter Scott video is the conscience of Ame

[DonViejo]

“We look up to you”: The immigrant who shot the horrific Walter Scott video is the conscience of America

Feidin Santana says he almost erased the police-shooting video because he feared for his life. We should be ashamed

JOAN WALSH

Craig Melvin’s interview Wednesday night with Feidin Santana, the 23-year-old immigrant who shot the video of North Charleston officer Michael Slager murdering Walter Scott, was almost as stomach-turning as the video itself. First reported on MSNBC’s “All in with Chris Hayes,” the interview features Santana explaining that he “thought about erasing the video” recorded via cell phone on his way to work, because “I felt like my life with this information would be in danger.”

You can watch the whole interview here. Please do. It’s worth it.

-snip- (The video)

North Charleston officials are being praised for the speed with which they charged Slager with murder, the same day the video became public. They didn’t merely suspend the officer, with or without pay, or convene a grand jury. They charged him with murder and put him in jail.

But we shouldn’t go too far with gratitude for that swift, appropriate action. From Saturday until the video surfaced Tuesday, Scott’s killing was being portrayed by city officials as simply what Slager said it was: a case of an officer facing down a violent black man, afraid for his life. The video showed us that story was the opposite of the truth. We see Slager appear to plant a weapon on Scott’s dead or dying body to “prove” he was attacked.

Authorities in North Charleston had no choice but to charge Slager, and we betray our collective PTSD, when it comes to police killings of unarmed black men, to feel relief and gratitude, as I did, when officials do the right thing.

On the other hand, I feel real gratitude for the courage of Feidin Santana, who recorded Slager’s confrontation with Scott through to its bloody end. The young immigrant from the Dominican Republic explained that he didn’t reveal that he had shot the video right away. Then he read the police report, which peddled Slager’s story about Scott posing a threat, and “it wasn’t like that, the way they are saying.” Santana went public with the video, appalled at seeing police “taking advantage of their power,” he told Melvin. “I’m still scared,” Santana told NBC’s Matt Lauer on the Today show Thursday morning.

more + the video
http://www.salon.com/2015/04/09/%E2%80%9Cwe_look_up_to_you%E2%80%9D_the_immigrant_who_shot_the_horrific_walter_scott_video_is_the_conscience_of_america/

[2naSalit]

1. BIG K&R!!!!

[notadmblnd]

2. I watched an interview last night with him, the reporter asked

"...and this is the way you go to work everyday?" To which Mr. Santana replied, "not any more."

Which goes to show, all any immigrant with brown skin has to do to lose that idealized notion of America, is to live here and experience it for a little while.

[raging moderate]

3. Thank you, Feiden Santana!

You are a true American, Feiden Santana!

[Faryn Balyncd]

4. [phone]

[heaven05]

5. An immigrant, the sustaining life of america

shot the video. Bravo!!!! Mr. Santana. For your courage and for being here in this country. Speaks volumes. As far as the truth of american policing officials goes, of this murder/summary execution, well that is america, if you look at the 'official' pre-video statement of this incident. The haste with charging this murderer post video was and is unavoidable. They can't squirm out of this one, although, I'm sure, they will try. Classic egg on face response by the N. Charleston 'officials'. How long must these executions go on till all police officers must wear body cams? That's my only question, because this murder is indisputable. Thank you Mr. Santana for revealing one of the modern day truths about my country and its racist culture. I do hope he's very careful in that city. He's a hero of mine.

[951-Riverside]

6. Oh he's an immigrant? Yikes!

He better have an immigration lawyer on standby because this is what happens to immigrants who speak out against police brutality.

In a videotape of the shooting, made by a bystander, the deputy appears to tell Carrion, who was sprawled on the ground, to "get up, get up." When the airman tried to stand, the deputy shot him three times.

Webb's father, former Compton Police Chief Ivory Webb, told The Times last week that his son felt threatened when Carrion started to rise and that his son had only a split-second to react.

The Chino resident who taped the shooting, Jose Luis Valdes, was arrested by Pomona police Friday on an outstanding warrant from Dade County, Fla., on charges of aggravated assault. Valdes, who fled Cuba in the early 1990s, was taken into custody while visiting a federal immigration office to renew his immigrant registration card. Immigration officials discovered the warrant during a routine background check and called police, authorities said.

His federal extradition hearing is scheduled for today.

http://articles.latimes.com/2006/feb/07/local/me-highspeed7

Jose Luis Valdes, the Chino man who taped the shooting, was taken into police custody and extradited to Florida on an outstanding warrant last month after being detained at a U.S. immigration office in Pomona. That case is pending.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-ivorywebbd-story.html#page=1

The guy who taped the Eric Garner strangulation is still sitting in Jail.

[dougolat]

8. Whistle-blowers are persecuted, but it's accepted...

...like illegal wars based on lies

...and stolen elections

...and high finance theft

...and ecological suicide

...and bought-and-paid-for legislators and officials

it needs more light, and this helps

[marym625]

7. K&R

Don't know how I missed this