Michael Slager took only 6 seconds to claim Scott had "grabbed" his Taser.

[herding cats]

The more I think on this the more it bothers me. From what we've seen, there's a pervasive argument this claim wasn't true. However, there is a gap from before the video begins when there was a struggle taking place.

What we do know now to be an undisputed fact is there was no CPR, no attempt to help the victim, as was also previously claimed.

Michael Slager radioed in Taser claim six seconds after firing at Walter Scott

The police officer who shot Walter Scott radioed in to claim that Scott had “grabbed my Taser”, six seconds after firing his final shot, despite video suggesting the unarmed man was not in possession of the stun gun at any point, a Guardian analysis has shown.

Syncing police scanner audio with a shocking video – the eyewitness footage out of South Carolina which led to officer Michael Slager being charged with murder – raises further questions about whether either of two officers on the video performed any CPR on Scott as was previously claimed by police.

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At this point a second officer, now identified as Clarence Habersham, arrives on the scene and radios in. Slager then walks back towards the body and radios in stating: “I need to secure my vehicle”. At this point – over a minute after the last shot is fired – neither officer appears to have performed CPR on Scott.

Slager then walks and drops the item, which some have speculated is a Taser, next to Scott’s body.

At this point Habersham radios in to say he has detected gunshots to Scott’s chest on the right side. He then radios to say he has detected a gunshot wound to the buttocks. He appears to be pulling Scott’s T-shirt up at this point.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/08/south-carolina-walter-scott-shooting-audio-video

Walter Scott shooting footage synced with police scanner audio – video synced


There's some wiggle room for the defense as to what took place before the video begins. At the beginning of the video you can hear what sounds like a taser being used on Scott, which implies the officer had control of the the taser at the time. After the video begins we see an object is either knocked or falls to the ground behind Slager. We don't know if the object is the taser, but we do know whatever it is Slager goes back and picks it up after cuffing Scott, and later drops it by his body. All this being what it is, it still leaves the defense some room to attempt to validate the claim that Scott attempted to grab, or did grab the taser at some point. Which shouldn't be a defense against the shooting, but it will be used to attempt to make Slager appear slightly more truthful.

Which makes the documented lie about the CPR and the attempt to help Scott all the more important.

Police reports say that officers performed CPR and delivered first aid to Mr. Scott. The video shows that for several minutes after the shooting, Mr. Scott remained face down with his hands cuffed behind his back. A second officer arrives, puts on blue medical gloves and attends to Mr. Scott, but is not shown performing CPR. As sirens wail in the background, a third officer later arrives, apparently with a medical kit, but is also not seen performing CPR.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/us/south-carolina-officer-is-charged-with-murder-in-black-mans-death.html

I don't know what the dash-cam video will reveal when/if it's released today, but it's clear from what we have already seen there was no attempt to help Scott as had been previously claimed. That was a lie to make the police look better in the eyes of the public. This important, even if Scott was clearly already dead, the lie was still told to attempt to make them look better, and to muddy the opinion of the possible jurors down the road. It wasn't true, though. It was a lie.

Man Who Filmed Walter Scott Shooting: Never Saw Cops Perform CPR

Which makes begs the question how many other officer involved shootings in the past five years in SC were also not reported truthfully?

EXCLUSIVE: SC officers exonerated in more than 200 shootings

Police in South Carolina have fired their weapons at 209 suspects in the past five years, and a handful of officers have been accused of pulling the trigger illegally – but none has being convicted, according to an analysis by The State newspaper.

In South Carolina, it remains exceedingly rare for an officer to be found at fault criminally for shooting at someone.

In an unusual turnaround, prosecutors late last year filed a spate of charges for use of excessive force against three white officers in the shootings of black drivers. Only one went to trial but resulted in a hung jury.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article15654974.html#storylink=cpy

I don't know if any of these incidents involved unwarranted shootings, but it's a question worth asking. Police should not be in charge of investigating their own shootings. Ever. In any state. The potential for corruption in the investigation is too high. Permitting policies such as this leads to a situation where police know all the pretty things to say to appease the media, and thus a sizable part of the population. Which leaves those who are victims, who are statistically the minority populations, feeling powerless to obtain justice. This has to change.

[3catwoman3]

1. How long did it take to fire...

...those 8 shots?

Pretty tough to do CPR on someone who is lying face down with his hands cuffed behind his back.

[jwirr]

2. The arguement regarding the object dropped near the body should be easy to resolve in the police

report what was the object? And where was the taser found? The taser should have been found back by the car. And there should be a description of the object found by the body.

[Angel Martin]

3. i'm confused about this no-cpr idea

on the police radio recording

http://heavy.com/news/2015/04/michael-slager-police-dispatch-radio-911-audio-recording-walter-scott-shooting-murder-south-carolina-scanner/

at 16:55 an officer radios the list of Scott's gunshot injuries for EMR and calls his status "unresponsive"
unresponsive = unconscious but still breathing and still has a pulse, so no CPR needed to this point

at 17:30-34 the same officer says employing(?) chest compression, which is CPR. the first word is hard to hear but "chest compression" can be clearly heard.

?