Why do American police kill so many black men?
Analysis
BBC
4.6 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 6 July 2015
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Recent high profile cases of unarmed black men dying at the hands of the US police have sparked outrage, protests and civil unrest in several American cities. The deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Walter Scott and Freddie Gray are - some claim - evidence of long-standing problems with police racism and excessive violence. But what do we really know about what's happening? Helena Merriman explores the issues of racism, bias and police use of force. And the head of President Obama's taskforce on police reform, Charles Ramsey, tells us that fixing the problem will involve much more than just fixing the police.
(Photo copyright: Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thanks for downloading analysis from the BBC. This week, Helena Merriman investigates the recent wave of shootings of unarmed black men in the morning in Charleston, South Carolina. |
| 0:17.0 | 50-year-old Walter Scott, an African-American Coast Guard veteran and father of four, drives into a parking lot. |
| 0:28.0 | A police car signals for him to pull over. |
| 0:31.0 | His brake light is broken. |
| 0:33.2 | Officer Slager gets out to check his papers. |
| 0:36.4 | The two men talk, and suddenly Walter makes a run for it. |
| 0:41.8 | What happens next is disputed, but in just a few minutes Walter Scott is |
| 0:46.8 | dead. In the hours that follow the officer says he shot water and self-defense. But then a video emerges, filmed on a mobile phone by a passer-by. |
| 1:07.0 | It tells a very different story. |
| 1:10.0 | It shows the two men in a scuffle. |
| 1:12.0 | Walter Scott breaks free. It shows the two men in a scuffle. |
| 1:13.0 | Walter Scott breaks free. |
| 1:15.0 | The cop reaches for his gun and fires. |
| 1:18.0 | Eight times. |
| 1:20.0 | Walter Scott falls to the ground, four bullets in his back, one in his ear. |
| 1:27.0 | We've all seen the video, if there wasn't a video, would we know the truth, or would just go on what was reported earlier. |
| 1:35.0 | As a press conference a few days later, Walter Scott's brother struggled to keep his composure. |
| 1:41.0 | We can't get my brother back and my family is in deep mourning for that. I don't |
| 1:47.4 | think that all police officers are bad cops, but there are some bad ones out there and I don't want to see |
| 1:56.7 | anyone get shot down to where my brother got shot in an investigation later found that Walter Scott was wanted for arrest on a minor charge, |
| 2:06.0 | but that he was unarmed, and a few weeks ago a grand jury indicted Officer Slager for murder. |
| 2:19.0 | Walter Scott is now another name on a growing list, |
... |
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