Video Released of Trooper-Involved Shooting

[Silent_Bob]

http://www.wltx.com/story/news/local/2014/09/24/video-released-released-of-trooper-involved-shooting/16187305/

Columbia, SC (WLTX) - The video showing a shooting involving a former South Carolina state trooper and an unarmed man has been released to the public.

The video was taken from the dash camera installed inside 31-year-old Sean Groubert's vehicle during an encounter in which Groubert shot 35-year-old Levar Jones on September 4th. The incident took place at a Circle K gas station on Broad River Road in Columbia.

Groubert was charged Wednesday with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature in connection with the incident. Bond was set at $75,000.

In the video, Jones can be seen getting out of his car when Groubert pulled up and asked for his license. Jones can be seen reaching into his car for his license, and as he does, Groubert begins yelling at Jones and fires several shots.

Jones was hit by one bullet in the hip. He is recovering at home after being hospitalized for the injury.

While shooting at Jones, Groubert can be heard yelling, "Get out of the car, get out of the car."

Jones replied,"I just got my license, you said get my license."

Groubert responded by telling Jones to get on the ground.

While on the ground Jones said, "I have my license right here, you said get my license."

In the video Groubert can be heard asking Jones if he was hit by a bullet and went on to say, "Bro, you dove head first back into your car."

After seeing the video in court, Groubert's attorney, former Fifth Circuit Solicitor Barney Geise, says that his client is not guilty and is looking forward to his day in court.

South Carolina Department of Public Safety Director Leroy Smith fired Groubert September 19th after observing the video and reviewing a report from the State Law Enforcement Division. In dismissing Groubert, Smith called the facts of the case "disturbing."

The charges filed Wednesday were brought by the Fifth Circuit Solicitor's office, which also reviewed SLED's findings. Groubert faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

[Russell Kanning]

yes
disturbing

[Tom Sawyer]

A seat belt violation! My god he had to shoot him!

Man, this is the perfect example of the danger of every petty little law they make.

Click it or Die!

[Becky Thatcher]

Of course he had to shoot him.! Just think, a child might have seen the man without his seat belt on and been influenced by this very unsafe behavior....

He shot him FOR THE CHILDREN!! 

[WithoutAPaddle]

Something must have made this a stressful situation for the cop for him to have reacted that way.  Pulling this car over for a seat belt violation may well have been pretense for checking the driver over for something else that the cop reasonably or unreasonably suspected the driver of.

I was once pulled over in front of Pease Air Base for an uninspected vehicle, and the idiot cop found out that there was a warrant out for someone with my first and last name but a different middle name, who also happened to be six inches shorter, 50 pounds lighter and six years younger (and nowhere near as handsome), and they actually arrested me anyway, and after they had me put my hands on my van and had frisked me prior to the cuffing, I said, "Wait a minute.  If you're bringing me to Dover, I need to take my tools so I can do my job there before I come back for my van", and without even getting their "permission", I opened the van back door, took out my toolbox, and brought it to the trunk of the cop car.  They opened the trunk, I put it in, and then they handcuffed me.

Obviously, those cops didn't actually consider me to be a threat to them, but in hindsight, it was a pretty numb thing for me to do.  I mean, if they had pulled me because they were looking for someone who was suspected of a violent crime, and if they had concerns that the discrepancies in the identification were not so certain as to exculpate me, then when I went for the tool box while in the process of being cuffed, then yeah, they might have had reason to go off the deep end.

[Tom Sawyer]

Policies and procedures have changed over the last decade. Now they are taught that everyone is a threat to them "going home at night".

I used to get out of the car and walk back to talk to the cop, standing between the two cars. Seemed to make for a more equal situation and often improved the outcome. Now a days they flip out if you do that. Their tension often escalates situations, barking commands, menacing, etc. ramps the encounter up. In particular, people that are innocent, and/or don't understand the danger of the situation can end up behaving in ways that lead to bad outcomes.

[Russell Kanning]

we see people getting their cars searched a few times a day as we drive by
2 days ago the cop had stepped away from the guys car and walked towards one of the 3 passengers standing at a distance. when the driver took a step or 2 towards the cop with his arms spread out gesturing and trying to calm down the situation, the cop suddenly yelled at him and pointed to tell him to stop right there.
seemed like another situation where nothing was happening, but the cop was one step away from hurting someone.

[WithoutAPaddle]

Something must have made this a stressful situation for the cop for him to have reacted that way.  Pulling this car over for a seat belt violation may well have been pretense for checking the driver over for something else that the cop reasonably or unreasonably suspected the driver of.

Or maybe not.  It now seems that what made this situation seem stressful and threatening was that the person Gilbert pulled over for a seat belt violation was black... and that's it.  This story ran in the Baltimore Sun on Sunday and has been picked up by the Associated Press.

You almost feel sorry for Sean
Groubert [Commentary]
We are citizens of a country where the fear of black men is
downright viral

October 05, 2014 By Leonard Pitts Jr

Let us give Sean Groubert every benefit of the doubt.

Let us assume he is a good person. Let us assume he is kind to children, well liked by neighbors. And by all means, let's assume he has a black friend. For good measure, let's assume he has two.

Now, with those assumptions in force, let's ponder why Mr. Groubert, a white South Carolina state trooper, shot an unarmed black man last month at a gas station in Columbia. The incident has received less notice than did the shooting of Michael Brown, probably because the victim, 35-year-old Levar Jones, survived. But it deserves attention because it promises to enlighten us in ways the Brown killing did not.

Mr. Groubert, who has been fired and charged with assault and battery, tells his side of the story in audio obtained this week by MSNBC. He explains how he stopped Mr. Jones for a seat belt violation, how Mr. Jones "jumped out," of his car, and "stared at me." Mr. Groubert says that "as I approached him, he jumped headfirst into his car" and that is when he ordered Mr. Jones out, "he jumped out of the car. I saw something black in his hands. I ran to the other side of the car, yelling at him, and he kept coming towards me. Apparently it was his wallet."

But that is not what happened. Mr. Groubert's story is contradicted by an unimpeachable witness -- his own dashcam video. You can see it online for yourself. Mr. Groubert pulls up as Mr. Jones is exiting his vehicle. The officer asks to see Mr. Jones' license. Mr. Jones reaches into the car to get it. The officer, voice rising in panic, orders Mr. Jones out of the vehicle. Mr. Jones is complying with this when Mr. Groubert opens fire. He's still shooting as Mr. Jones falls out of frame, hands raised.

"Why did you shoot me?" Mr. Jones asks.

Now Mr. Jones, shot in the hip, is walking with a cane, Mr. Groubert is facing 20 years, and that question hangs like smoke. So let us accord him the benefit of the doubt because in situations like this, people always want to make it a question of character. And the shooter's friends always feel obliged to defend him with the same tired words: "He is not a racist."

He probably isn't, at least not in the way they understand the term.

But what he is, is a citizen of a country where the fear of black men is downright viral. That doesn't mean he burns crosses on the weekend. It means he's watched television, seen a movie, used a computer, read a newspaper or magazine. It means he is alive and aware in a nation where one is taught from birth that thug equals black, suspect equals black, danger equals black.

Thus has it been since the days of chains, since the days of lynch law, since the days newspapers routinely ran headlines like "Helpless Co-Ed Ravished by Black Brute." It is the water we drink and the air we breathe, a perception out of all proportion to any objective reality, yet it infiltrates the collective subconscious to such an unholy degree that even black men fear black men.

[Russell Kanning]

it is amazing how "they" initiate the interaction
then "they" ramp up the tension
the "they" hurt you