◼ Think Walter Scott’s death is ‘another Ferguson’? Cops don’t. - Peter Moskos/Washington Post
To see a black life snuffed out by a fellow cop is especially painful to police officers who spend much of their careers trying to protect black lives. One New York City officer wrote me to say, “This cop also just shot all of law enforcement in the back.” At home and in roll calls around the nation, cops watched the video of Scott’s killing and cringed not only at his death, but also at the officer’s betrayal of the police uniform and everything it stands for....
In Ferguson, as the Justice Department made very clear, all credible evidence supported officer Darren Wilson’s account of a justified, legal and necessary shooting. Brown robbed a store, fought for the police officer’s gun and then physically charged the cop. In North Charleston last weekend, all Scott did was drive with a broken taillight and run from the cop who pulled him over.
Like Scott, Garner died on camera as a result of police actions — in Garner’s case, a chokehold was used during his arrest. But most police officers see very little similarity. There’s a tremendous moral and legal difference between a person dying during an altercation with police and an officer willfully using lethal force. Policing can be bad and mistaken, both tactically and morally, and still not be criminal. Garner’s and Scott’s deaths were both tragedies, but only Scott’s was a crime.
Read my column, "Walter Scott Is Not on Trial," and let me know what you think. http://t.co/7LVeWijVSG
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) April 13, 2015
