I think video shows the gun was not planted [View all]

[Egnever]

Or at least was not credibly planted.

Initially when I saw the video like many here I thought it was. Then I saw a facebook post someone posted here that slowed it down and claimed you could see it being thrown down. However the video was edited to just the end of the video and it looked like what they were claiming was a gun being thrown was something soft. So I went back to the original video to see if I could see it better and in the course of watching it I saw the gun.

I have now watched it many times and I am sure now that either this man had a gun, or the cops are insanely fast, or what appears right after the shooting is something besides a gun. None of the video is clear enough for me to say in my head it is definitely a gun but I think at this point I am going to have to give the cops the benefit of the doubt on this one.

I do not think for a second this man should have been shot. I see no reason to force the situation the way these officers did. Too often police use excessive force before trying to de escalate the situation. Far too often through outright racism or just mean spiritedness they kill or injure far too many people. I don't think there is any question we need a complete overhaul of police training and procedures as well as accountability.

That said I think you can see pretty clearly when the gun appears, and you can see the officer in the red shirt kicks it away from Mr. Scott.

The video I have looked most at at this point is this one.

Watching that video at the 1:08 mark as she is walking up it is not very clear but you can not see the gun. Mr Scott is visible but the gun is not. I took a screenshot of it but you can stop and start the video yourself and see all of what I am posting here.



Then he is shot and the camera pans away for a few seconds and when it comes back the cop in red is standing over Mr. Scott at about 1:18. in between 1:18 and 1:19 you can see the cop in red kick the gun back away from Mr. Scott.



Just a frame after his foot appears to kick back the gun is there.



It gets clearer as she moves forward and at 1:22-23 it is pretty clear.



After that you can see the officer back up to stand over the gun and he looks down at it as he does so. From there you mostly can not see the gun as his foot obscures it until about the 2:13 mark. Then he shifts his foot some and you can see it poking out from behind his left foot again.

I still don't think this man should have been shot but I do find the video to be pretty compelling that he did indeed have a gun. The time between him being shot and the gun being kicked back is just too short in my opinion to credibly believe the cops planted it. That is not to say it doesn't ever happen I just don't think there is much question it is not what happened in this case.

I am sure I am going to take heat for this but I am going to post it anyway. I am not posting it to justify this mans death in any way. I don't think it is at all clear deadly force was necessary from this video (quite the opposite actually) even though I do now find it credible he had a gun.