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.
I still entertain the possibility
that this was a Professional Hit.
Here's the conflict,
But the 72-year-old man, in addition to another witness reached Monday, said they did see the weapon and did see Scott reach for it.
The man said he saw Scott reach with his right hand and pull out what appeared to be a gun in a zippered holster. He recognized the holster, he said, because he has one like it. Officers then fired, and the man saw the gun fall out of Scott's hand. The witness did not see Scott point the gun at officers.
The second witness, who also spoke on the condition that his name not be used, was standing near the entrance when he said he heard police shout, "Get down on the ground. Get down now."
He turned to see why police were yelling, he said, and saw Scott reaching for what appeared to be a pistol in his waistband. The witness said he recognized the butt of the gun and immediately turned toward his wife and covered her as they dove to the ground.
"He was definitely reaching for the gun," the man said.
And we haven't heard from the store employees yet. Someone called the cops for some reason.
It’s going to take some time to get the videotape to line up with the officers’ stories!
I ask because there is a lot of work involved in such a case, and it takes time to do it right.
Welcome to Mexico, Señior Lazamataz... it seems you owe us $20 to keep from "resisting arrest"...
Nah, they’ll just film a “dramatic reenactment” and submit that as evidence...
[/sarc][/cynic]
An independent body should be doing the inquest.
Iconic photo - do you know the real story of this photo?
The (now) dead guy had just murdered the officer’s entire family just minutes before wife and children - I would have some the same.
Says a lot that his troops left the asshat alive for the boss to deal with him.....
as the esteemed FReeper HiTech Redneck remarked earlier
just put a raw disk image out on the Internet.
Anyone recalling Elmostafa’s courage in the DukeLax hoax?
“Sifting” for witnesses with umm, vulnerabilities and
hoping they are more pliable.
“From now on every person I know who plans on taking a trip to Las Vegas will be informed of what can happen to them. I will strongly suggest they vacation elsewhere.”
Include significant parts of Florida when you warn people. There are cops down there that are just as trigger-happy as the Las Vegas police.
All cities are RAT with union-thug cops.
I have something to say about our police that are here to serve and protect. In my day the lqast thing a cop wanted to do is take a life. The Las Vegas Metro Police these days are cowards. Half of them know little or nothing about hand to hand combat so they do what they think Dirty Harry would do, shoot to kill. I have seen cops here no bigger than my 12 year old son. If I were one of those cops involved I would be looking for someone to agree with my actions. Well your not going to find it here. And I hope you three go to jail for murder.
Too many careeres on the line to take a chance that the truth would come out in an inquest IMHO.
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