Pubdate: Sat, 07 Nov 2015
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2015 Star Advertiser
Contact: 
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154
Author: Jacob Sullum, the Creators Syndicate.

COPS RARELY PAY PRICE FOR BEHAVIOR CAUGHT ON VIDEO

FBI Director James Comey says cops are reluctant to do their jobs 
because they worry that their actions will be captured on camera. 
Judging from the official response to the shooting of Zachary 
Hammond, they have little to fear.

Speaking at the University of Chicago Law School last month, Comey 
said police officers "in today's YouTube world" are afraid to get out 
of their cars, lest they face camera-wielding bystanders intent on 
recording them. He warned that good policing could "drift away from 
us in the age of viral videos" as cops refrain from confronting 
suspicious characters.

"I spoke to officers privately in one big-city precinct who described 
being surrounded by young people with mobile phone cameras held high, 
taunting them the moment they get out of their cars," Comey said. 
"I've been told about a senior police leader who urged his force to 
remember that their political leadership has no tolerance for a viral video."

You might wonder what exactly cops would do if they were sure they 
were not being recorded, or why they are so worried that practices 
Comey thinks are essential to public safety would be fodder for viral 
videos. But the truth is that cops rarely face serious consequences 
even when they star in videos that appall the average YouTube viewer.

TO UNDERSTAND why, consider last week's exoneration of the police 
officer who shot and killed Hammond, an unarmed 19-yearold, in 
Seneca, South Carolina, on July 27. Last week 10th Circuit Solicitor 
Chrissy Adams said Lt. Mark Tiller was justified in using lethal 
force because Hammond was trying to run him over. But that is not 
what the dashcam video of the encounter - which was not released 
until last week, three months after the shooting - seems to show.

Police planned to arrest Hammond's date, 23-yearold Tori Morton, whom 
an undercover cop had lured to a Hardee's parking lot by pretending 
to be a pot and cocaine buyer. Morton was sitting in the front 
passenger seat of Hammond's Honda Civic as Lt. Mark Tiller approached 
the driver's side with his gun drawn, shouting, "Hands up! Put 'em 
up! Stop! Stop! Stop! I'm gonna shoot your f-----g ass!"

Hammond, who was already backing up as Tiller approached the car, 
continued on his way, making a sharp left so he could pull out of the 
parking lot. Tiller ran into the path of the car, then backed up to 
avoid being hit.

When Tiller fired the first shot, which entered Hammond's chest 
through the left side, he was no longer in the car's path. Tiller 
fired a second shot, which hit Hammond in the back, as Hammond was 
moving past him. There is no indication that Hammond aimed the car at 
Tiller, and Tiller was not in danger of being struck when he fired 
those two rounds.

"The video viewed at full speed, standing alone, is troublesome," 
Adams conceded in the letter explaining her decision. She probably 
meant troubling, but the slip is revealing: The video, viewed at any 
speed, is indeed troublesome - that is, inconvenient - if you are 
determined to conclude that Tiller reasonably believed killing 
Hammond was the only way to avoid death or serious injury.

Adams managed that feat, despite the video and autopsy evidence to 
the contrary, by emphasizing how quickly Tiller killed Hammond. "Lt. 
Tiller had seconds to make this decision," she said. "The law 
prohibits viewing Lt. Tiller's decision to use deadly force from the 
perspective of a 'Monday morning quarterback.'"

As in the case of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy who was killed in 
Cleveland last year because someone saw him playing with an Airsoft 
pellet gun, the officer's hastiness counts in his favor, and the 
recklessness of his approach does not figure in his legal culpability.

These are the sort of breaks you can expect if you have a badge as 
well as a gun, and they are a pretty strong defense against viral videos.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom