This video of a traffic stop in South Carolina earlier this month was published yesterday, and it’s been making the rounds today. You really need to watch it to get a sense for just how appalling it is, but in a nutshell, here’s what happened. At about the 00:35 mark, a police officer stops a black guy at a gas station for a seat belt violation. Guy gets out of his car. Cop asks for his license. Guy reaches into his car to get it, and the cop instantly starts screaming at him and unloads several shots at point blank range.
Luckily, this cop was apparently a lousy shot, and the motorist is recuperating. But the most heartrending part of the whole thing is how apologetic the motorist was after getting shot for no reason. “I just got my license,” he pleads. “I’ve got my license right here.” Then: “What did I do, sir? Why did you shoot me?”
“You dove headfirst back into your car,” the cop says. “I’m sorry,” he apologizes abjectly. “I’m sorry.”
Thank God this police car had a dash camera. If not for that, probably no one would have believed the motorist’s story. As it is, Julian Sanchez says this video might finally be having a real effect on people:
Seeing an unexpected number of comments on conservative boards to the effect of: “Holy shit, I’m white and this would never happen to me.”….My anecdotal gestalt impression is this SC shooting is actually a Road to Damascus moment for a nontrivial number of conservatives.
We can hope so. If neither Ferguson nor the Ohio Walmart shooting did it, maybe this finally will.
