Wow. It does appear that an FBI civil rights investigation still is ongoing (the mayor’s claims nothwithstanding) and a § 1983 surely will follow. But this suggest the key framing of the two limits on video (and thus of body cameras): 1) Video is not certain, so everyone (courts, officials, and the public) errs when elevating video over all other evidence (call this the Scott/Plumhoff issue), but 2) What video says to you is not the same as what it says to someone else (call this the Dan Kahan issue).
This means we should not necessarily be surprised by the Eric Garner grand jury or by Hammond’s mayor. They simply saw something different on that video than I (and many other people) did.
Posted by Howard Wasserman on December 8, 2014 at 03:48 PM
Comments
“This means we should not necessarily be surprised by the Eric Garner grand jury or by Hammond’s mayor. They simply saw something different on that video than I (and many other people) did.”
Grand juries are the tool of the prosecutor. If they didn’t indict, it’s because the prosecutor didn’t want an indictment.
Posted by: Barry | Dec 8, 2014 6:54:24 PM