There’s nothing exculpatory about the Kajieme Powell killing video

The St. Louis Police Department dictionary must be different than the one you and I use, because in the wake of the release of the cell phone footage taken by a citizen while Kajieme Powell was being shot and killed by police,  St. Louis Police Association business representative Jeff Roorda said the union approved of the video’s release because,  ” it’s exculpatory for one thing “.

No, Mr. Roorda, the video is not exculpatory, it’s incriminating. The officers must have reported to St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson that Powell had a knife raised in an overhand grip and was two or three feet away from them when they opened fire, because that’s what Dotson told reporters in the wake of the shooting. But the video tells a much different story. Assuming, then, that the officers lied in their report of the shooting incident, why did they do so?

The most plausible explanation is that they knew that the situation as they encountered it did not justify the use of deadly force, so they freely embellished upon and then reported a scenario that would justify their actions. And if this is the case, we should all be outraged, horrified and demand that the officers involved be investigated for an unjustifiable homicide.

Someone in the St. Louis, or even the national press, needs to ask Sam Dotson or Jeff Roorda why there is such a stark discrepancy between the officers  initial report and what actually happened. Police officers presumably lying about the details of a fatal shooting of a citizen is no way to de-escalate tensions in Missouri or anywhere else in the country.

 

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