print“They could have tased him or shot him in the leg; they shot the man, he dead [sic]. They could have tased him.” The speaker is a man who is walking along, talking to himself [or “he self”], while filming his surroundings with a mobile device. Another man is meandering around, acting erratically. The latter appears more confused than menacing. The filmer passes the meanderer with no incident. Police arrive. The narrator gets increasingly agitated and distressed as it becomes apparent what could and would go down. He’s describing the events as they unfold, incredulous, genuinely in disbelief.
Police arrive. Wait hardly at all. Make no attempts to subdue the meandering man or talk him down. Then pump him full of lead. The officers proceed to cordon off the street, clearly to prevent the shocked witnesses, who are standing at a considerable distance, from assembling.
Mediaite explains that “St. Louis police put out this cell phone video” “in the name of transparency, following the outrage over the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer last week.”
Now we know that some at St. Louis police are both dangerous and stupid. This callous, if transparent, killing does nothing to redeem the force.
WATCH: