Posted on 07/28/2010 6:45:39 AM PDT by marktwain
Las Vegas, NV (KTNV)- There's been a delay in the process to determine exactly what happened in a fatal police shooting in front of the Costco store in Summerlin. The Clark County District Attorney's office has requested that the coroner's inquest be postponed indefinitely.
That inquest was set for September 3rd, to determine if three officers were justified in the use of deadly force against Erik Scott. Scott was kill by police gunfire on July 10th.
Clark County District Attorney David Roger says his office asked for the delay partly because they have not yet received witness statements and reports from Metro Police. Roger also says there may be hundreds of witnesses to sift through because the shooting happened on a busy Saturday afternoon.
"There are some people who do not believe in the coroner's inquest system. We're not going to change their minds. What we are concerned about is providing a complete record to the members of the public that will choose to sit on this inquest jury," said David Roger.
Roger says police are flooded with people calling to give information. He says deciding which witnesses will be called to testify and issuing subpoenas is a process in and of itself.
"I'm sensitive to the decedents family members and their desire to have a speedy response, but we want to do our part, and we want to get it right," added Roger.
The attorney representing a grieving family is questioning the transparency of what is happening.
"We're going on our third week now since three officers shot Erik Scott, putting five bullets in his back, and we're demanding answers," said attorney Ross Goodman, representing the Scott family.
Goodman claims Scott was shot once in the chest, once in the shoulder and five times in the back. He says his biggest frustration lies in two key pieces of evidence that remain out of reach.
Thus far, Metro has refused to release the 911 tapes. Police are also saying that there may have been a glitch in Costco's surveillance system, and the cameras may have not recorded the ordeal. Metro says the hard drives have been sent to California for forensic analysis.
"We know there were four cameras outside of Costco that would've captured the shooting. We know that there was a camera within Costco, on the aisle, which would've covered allegations that Mr. Scott was acting erratically," said Goodman. "All they have to do is provide video and the tapes."
Police claim Erik Scott pointed his gun at them outside the store's entrance after destroying merchandise and acting erratically. There are reports from witnesses that dispute all of that.
"These witnesses are professionals, doctors, lawyers, very credible people, who say unequivocally, Mr. Scott wasn't posing any threat to the officers," Goodman went on to say.
Family and friends of Scott, a West Point Graduate, have said all along that he had a concealed weapons permit but never would've pointed a gun at an officer. His closest friend says this delayed inquest is only putting off closure for loved ones.
"Respect the process? What about respecting the family? I mean, there's a loss of life. What about providing the evidence to the family, so they can reviewed what happened, so they can understand what happened to their son," said Mike Pusateri, who talked with Scott through text message less than an hour before the shooting.
The Clark County District Attorney's Office says another reason for the delay is that the original inquest date was set for the day before labor day. Due to the extensive amount of witnesses, David Roger says the inquest will likely take two days, and he doesn't want proceedings split up by a holiday.
The inquest delay comes days after the family of Erik Scott begun a campaign to try and find out what really happened that Saturday afternoon when he was shot and killed by Metro officers.
Seven electronic billboards have gone up around Las Vegas asking for witnesses to come forward in the Costco shooting of Erik Scott.
Metro is not saying much about the billboards, or the shooting, except for what was said in previous interviews with Action News. All seven of the billboards are paid for by donations from friends of the Scott family.
Stay with Action News.
Three officers discharged their firearms with hundreds of witnesses.
Can't wait for that video to be released.
If they shot Rodney King, the video would have been on the evening news that day.
If you were the accused would you want evidence admitted against you simply because it was posted on the Internet?
Ya can’t blame um...they are just trying to be like the Chicago mob currently in the WH.
Were you ever involved in such a public case involving a death that included up to fifty people claiming to be witnesses with different accounts of what they saw?
“Were you ever involved in such a public case involving a death that included up to fifty people claiming to be witnesses with different accounts of what they saw?”
No, why?
Five in the back?
That explanation should be interesting.
Of course not, but I am not the accused, nor am I an accused that is part of the organization that controls the evidence, controls the inquiry, and controls who is allowed to testify.
What is posted on the Internet is free speech. When a citizen is involved in a shooting at a convenience store, the video is available to the public within hours. If the shooter happens to be a police officer in Las Vegas, things appear to be different.
It may be that the police were justified. At the minimum, the department has mishandled the release of information from the start. The Public affairs officer changed the “official” police story three times within hours of the shooting. A select portion of the 911 call that could be interpreted to bolster the police account was released to the public, even though police said they could not release the video or tapes to the public because of the ongoing investigation.
The only way that the LVPD do not further harm their image is complete transparency. This investigation should be turned over to an independent agency. The LV government should not be in charge of investigating their own agents.
So far the only “different accounts” I have seen is that the witnesses do not agree with the LEO’s, who all seem to agree that he DID have a gun in his hand.
Wow, this reeks.
That's not fair to the guy on the left. The guy being shot was an NVA spy, caught in enemy territory in civilian garb instead of a uniform. The Geneva Convention states that captured spies can be summarily executed, which is what is happening here. So this was perfectly legal, while we still don't know for sure about the Costco shooting (and I have my doubts).
That explanation should be interesting.”
I do not find the “Five in the back” shots hard to understand. There is always a bit of a lag between when a decision to shoot is made, and the shots being fired. My speculation is that one of the police “jumped the gun” with the first two shots, and then the other police opened up in reaction to the shots being fired. By that time, a lag of a second or so, Erik Scott had his back to the officers, so that is where the shots hit. As far as I can tell, there was no proper crime scene analysis of shots, body placement, blood drop analysis, etc. after the shooting. That would ordinarily tell us much more about who shot when and if there was anything in Erik Scott's hand when he was shot. When a person is shot, blood tends to fly all over the place, so a good analysis can determine a lot from the orientation and placement of minuscule blood droplets.
Real world forensics is not like CSI, but an amazing amount of information can be gleaned if good crime scene evidence collection is done.
Being a former cop, if I did what these cops did I would have been indicted. The 2 front shots would be justified if, and I say if he had a gun in his hand and was deemed a threat. However 5 in the back while he was down and not a threat is excessive and there is no way in hell they can justify that. Also I read that he had been tasered as well. These cops are going to jail. And if the local DA won’t indict, you can be sure that the federal DA for that district will.
If that is tire this was a bad shooting. Makes me sick.
I recall that the guy being shot was part of a “hit squad” of NVA during the Tet offensive, that had been captured from the scene of where the officer doing the shooting’s family had been slaughtered. It has been a while.
tire=true. More coffee please miss.
The brazen coverups are getting more.... brazen.
Pretty soon, the police chiefs in these sort of situations will get on camera, and start yelling, “YEAH! WE DID IT! SO F$(#ING WHAT???!? WHADDYA GONNA F$(#ING DO ABOUT IT, YA F$(#ING FISHLIPPED FAIRY??!??”
Then they’ll pull out their revolver and cap the reporter right behind the ear.
And nothing will come of it.
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Your point being......?
Welcome to the 21st Century, Mr. L!
And you thought that the 20th Century was a hellish mess - wait’ll you see what the State has in store for you now!
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