It was the incompetence of the police-officers that killed Keith Scott: a timeline.

[DetlefK]

https://thinkprogress.org/charlotte-police-chief-scott-footage-release-8ac52aea3784#.mvvhoq75v
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028185880

Let's piece together the timeline:

- The cops are looking for somebody with a gun and marijuana.
- The cops see that Keith Scott, sitting in his car, has a gun and marijuana-joint with him in his car.
- North Carolina is open-carry, so he has every right to have a gun on him.
- They yell at him, while Keith Scott is still sitting in his car, to drop the gun, about 5 times.
- His wife yells at the cops that he has no gun, that he had a Traumatic Brain Injury and that he is under the influence of medication.
- They try to smash his car-windows with a baton to get into the car.

Where was the gun in the car?
If the gun was lying around in the car, why were the cops yelling at Keith Scott to drop it instead of yelling at him to get out of the car?
If Keith Scott had the gun in hand in the car, why were the cops trying to smash the car-windows? What was the point of that? There is an armed suspect sitting in his car and the cops think it would be a good idea to bust his windows, lunge inside the car and drag him out???

- The cops keep yelling at him to drop the gun, about 5 more times.
- His wife yells at him to come out of the car before the cops smash the windows.
- Keith Scott leaves the car with his gun, just as he was told.
- He never points his gun at anybody, the cops yell at him to drop the gun.
- He just stands there, gun in hand.
- The cops shoot him.

[uponit7771]

1. +1, their justification for the engagement in the first place is 200% bullshit even believing 100%..

... of what they already said.

That somehow rolling something (the LEO said it was a blunt but has no proof of that) with a gun in the car somehow (not illegal in NC) somehow was the predicate for escalation.

They're full of shit.

Also, where is the body cam of the LEO that shot !!!!?!?!??

Your highlighted point is salient; if he had a gun in his hand why smash the window!?! Their story from the begninning is straight up bullshit


EDIT: The CPD wasn't looking for a person with MJ, they were serving a warrant on a totally unrelated situation. They claim they saw Scott in the car with rolling something (the LEO called it a blunt) and a gun ... niether are illegal in NC

[exboyfil]

2. Well smoking pot is illegal

The police said they were going to let it slide until he also showed them the gun (did he point it while in the car).

I agree they should have just waited him out and not tried to break the windows. They need to be calmer in these instances and tell him clearly to put the gun on the dash and exit the vehicle. They should also back up and take cover.

Contrast their response to a similar scenario in Florida where they allowed a white man to point and continue to wave a gun around.


http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Shooting-Mission-Bay-San-Diego-270202751.html

[uponit7771]

3. Scott was NOT smoking anything and the cop said he was rolling something which he had NO PROOF

... that it was MJ.

The OP makes a salient point; if Scott DID have a gun in the car why try to break the windows with a Baton!?!!!

It makes little sense and doesn't fit the relative escalation

that officers were trying to serve a warrant for someone else when they spotted Scott rolling “what they believed to be a marijuana ‘blunt’" in his car. At first they allegedly didn’t think much of it, until they saw Scott had a weapon and thought, “uh oh, this is a safety issue for us and the public,” Putney said.

This doesn't make sense at all

[exboyfil]

4. I don't disagree and I said so in my post

I also showed an example with a white person under similar circumstances in which far more restraint was exercised.

[uponit7771]

5. You have a point, if Scott DID have a gun why try and break out his windows with a Baton ?!!?!

... vs telling him to put the weapon on the dash seeing he wasn't posing a threat at the time.

Yeah... these guys were keystone cops and the Chief is covering for them

[mr_liberal]

6. You have cops pointing guns at you and theyve told you

to drop the gun. I would not then get out of the car with the gun in my hand. That is a threatening action. I would have put it on the floor.

If I was a cop arresting someone and he has disobeyed an order to drop the gun and got out with it in his hand I would think he could shoot at any moment too. You cant see in the video if he raises his arm at all but he could have. It only takes one second to raise your arm quick and fire. So that make for an intense situation, its like a shootout in the old west - who can draw first.

I dunno Id have to know more facts. Its definitely a good reason for marijuana to be legalized. You can have open carry but you can't have gun in your hand when confronted by police especially after you've been told top drop it and you've refused.

[DetlefK]

8. So when did he pick up this gun???

If the gun was lying in the car, why did the cops yell that he should drop it?

If he had the gun in his hand inside the car, why did the cops try to smash the window instead of staying at a safe distance?

If the gun was initially lying in his car and he picked it up later, why didn't they just shoot him when he picked up the gun? Why would the cops wait for the suspect to become an armed suspect and then wait for the now-armed suspect to get out of the car?

[mr_liberal]

9. When you're sitting in a car facing in the opposite direction with the window up

thats not as much of threat as getting out with it in your hand facing the cops minuets after have been told to drop it. The longer it goes the more of threat it is.

My guess is the cop threatened to break the window to try to get him to drop the gun and comply not that he was serious that he really was going to break it. Did he actually hit the window? I dont know. I dont knwo all the details I admit.

My guess is he pulled the gun from his ankle holster when he saw that cops were around. The cops were there for a different reason but saw he had marijuana and then saw he had a gun, in his lap or hand? I dunno. Should they just have let him be? I guess they could have but he was committing a crime and then sort of being threatening by having a gun out like he wasn't going to allow the cops to arrest him.

I dunno, I shouldn't guess at this, I don't know all the facts and evidence yet. It could be that I change my mind totally after hearing more evidence.

[mnhtnbb]

7. The whole thing stinks right from the get-go.