Charlotte Police Release Some Keith Scott Videos While Race-baiting Fascism Apologists Like Mark Dice Squeal in Delight

by Scott Creighton

“Putney said that officers are “absolutely not being charged” … not all of the footage in police possession would be released Saturday, but that more would be released in the future.” Huffington Post

As I predicted yesterday morning, police in Charlotte have indeed released the two videos they had previously claimed they would not release until the investigation into the shooting of Keith Scott was concluded. And, as I predicted, the videos, though still up for interpretation, do show Keith Scott with something in his right hand. Does that justify the use of deadly force by officers? It didn’t used to.

In this image taken from the body-cam of one of the officers involved, you can barely see Mr. Scott getting out of the vehicle and you certainly can’t see him being shot as he backed away from that officer due to the fact that the camera is located next to and behind the officer’s head, which gets in the way at the critical moment. It is grainy and may have even been altered in a key frame. There seems to be a dot covering Keith Scott’s right hand in the only frame you could have actually made out what was in his hand. One thing you can see is Mr. Scott’s right pant leg pulled up well above his ankle.

Mr. Scott is only in this video for a total of about 3 seconds and the grainy resolution of it makes it impossible to determine what he is holding. But he is holding something and it is not a book.

Mr. Scott’s pants leg is important due to the fact that the police have released an updated version of what they found at the scene to include an ankle holster. As I said yesterday, the small size of the gun and his pants having been pulled down by the officers left me to deduce that either Mr. Scott had the gun in his pants crotch or the weapon was a “drop gun” which are typically kept on an officer in an ankle holster.

In neither of the two videos is it possible to determine that Mr. Scott was actually wearing the ankle holster.

In the dash-cam video we can see Mr. Scott getting out of the vehicle, turning away from the video camera on the dash board and facing the officer behind his vehicle. He is walking backwards, away from that officer. Again, you can make out something in his right hand, but you can’t tell what exactly it is.

At no time in this video can you see what is in his right hand as he seems to keep it hidden from the dash-cam behind his body when he gets out of the truck and turns around.

Keep in mind, authorities stated yesterday that they are in possession of other videos which they declined to release. It’s hard to understand why they refuse to release them in that their original explanation for not releasing these videos was that they didn’t want to taint the witness versions of the event and since they have released these, doesn’t it stand to reason that they are no longer concerned about that issue?

The video goes on to show very briefly, Mr. Scott doubling over and appearing to drop to the ground after being shot by the officer behind his vehicle. He never raised his right hand, the one in question, in the direction of any of the officers on the scene.

Authorities made it very clear that the images do not in fact prove Mr. Scott had a gun in his hand when shot. That’s a very important fact to point out.

“(Putney) did note, however, that there’s no clear evidence that Scott pointed a gun at an officer.

“He absolutely was in possession of a handgun,” Putney said. “There was no definitive visual evidence that he had a gun in his hand and that he pointed it at an officer. That I did not visually see in the video … When [my officers] see a weapon and they see the marijuana they say ‘uh oh, this is a threat to the public.’” Huffington Post

Some will say these videos are inconclusive. I tend to disagree.

What is clear is the fact that Mr. Scott never raised a weapon to threaten anyone.

Fascism apologists are squealing in delight today. Take for instance, racist Mark Dice who did a video of this story featuring the newly released dash-cam video, in which he, unlike the police department in Charlotte, can determine without question that Mr. Scott was carrying a gun.

He also starts off his “news” video with the word “THUG” superimposed on the video and an arrow pointing down toward Mr. Scott.

For those of you who don’t know, “Thug” is the new “nigger” for racists like Mark Dice and his rabid, hate-filled fan base.

One would think that folks like Mark Dice and other alternative far-right neoliberal supporting apologists for the looming police state would be a bit dismayed at the actions of the Charlotte police department. After all, the 2nd amendment is a big thing for them and it would appear that Mr. Scott was shot and killed basically for being in possession of a weapon without actually threatening officers with said weapon. I will remind you “There was no definitive visual evidence that he had a gun in his hand and that he pointed it at an officer.”

I will also remind you “not all of the footage in police possession would be released Saturday”

Mark Dice is a pure racist. In this video he calls black protesters in Charlotte “animals” and “thugs” and defends a baseball player who suggested “everyone (protesters) should be locked behind bars like animals”. Dice then referred to the protesters as “terrorists” “burning down segments of their own community in a race riot, specifically targeting white people”

In true disinfo fashion, Dice then goes on too say this is straight out of 1984 with people being afraid to criticize their government as if what the ball player did was criticize the government, not people protesting unequal representation and protections from said government. The people protesting the government are the protesters, who Mr. Dice calls “thugs”, “animals” and “terrorists”

Yes, this is very similar to 1984 and Mark Dice is indeed providing a fine example of someone who has internalized the rightness of Big Brother no matter what the situation to the point where he says to his viewers “you gonna believe me or the Charlotte police and your lying eyes” about what is actually on those two videos released by police.

Unfortunately, either none of the viewers of his video have pointed out his race-baiting and hypocrisy as of yet… or Mark has simply erased comments that highlight these glaring issues with his “work’

Yesterday I wrote that it is impossible to determine definitively if this event was staged or not. It certainly has that feel and the timing of the release of these “inconclusive” videos tends to lend more credence to that conclusion. As to does the fact that he painstakingly keeps his right hand from the view of the dash cam.

Keep in mind, the dash-cam and the body-cam videos both involve someone coming into the scene very late, right before the shooting takes place and in the case of the body-cam video, we can clearly see the officer hitting the car with his left hand as he moves into place. Almost as if he’s letting the occupant know where he is and that it’s time for “action”

We still don’t know what set this event into motion. We have no idea why Mr. Scott was being detained by police in the first place. The videos provide no insight into that. And we also know authorities are still withholding more videos, ones that just might be more conclusive than these and may have captured the beginning of the confrontation.

What we do know is Mr. Scott’s shooting would not have been justified only a few years ago and in some precincts, still wouldn’t have been. Having a weapon, as long as it is legal, is not a capitol offense as far as I know.

Maybe according to folks like Mark Dice, being black and in possession of a weapon is though. Maybe that is all it takes for “defenders of the constitution” like him.

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