While the video of Michael Slager, a now-fired South Carolina police officer, shooting a man in the back at least five times has ignited national outrage and led to Slager’s termination by the North Charleston Police Department as well as a murder charge against the officer, not everyone who watches the cell phone video sees it the same way .
In fact, one conservative commentator sees a conspiracy behind the shocking images on the video recorded by Feidin Santana as he walked to work on the morning of April 4. Charles Johnson , editor of the conservative political news site GotNews , has claimed that Santana’s video may have been “doctored,” citing the videotaped police beating of Rodney King in 1992 as a precedent of “doctored” video footage.
Johnson, who was previously known for “outing” the alleged University of Virginia rape victim and threatening to reveal personal details about her on online, has taken to Twitter to question the authenticity of the recording.
I’ve seen too many doctored videos by the anti-cop brigade — Rodney King, anyone?– to trust the tape just yet. #WalterScott
— Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) April 8, 2015
Johnson, however, cited no evidence for his suspicions that someone had knowingly altered the Michael Slager/Walter Scott video, beyond his assertion that the Rodney King video was also doctored.
In 1992, before the existence of the internet as the global information network as it is today, and 13 years before YouTube was even invented, the Rodney King video was seen only on broadcast television.
One outlet, KTLA in Los Angeles, edited out the first 10 seconds of the Rodney King video, which allegedly showed King attempting to charge the the police officers who then tackled and brutally beat him.
While so far, at least publicly, only Johnson has alleged that the Walter Scott shooting video may have been somehow edited or altered, police released on Thursday a dash cam video that shows Scott attempting to run away from his vehicle, after admitting to Slager that he had no auto insurance.
Given that the subsequent video shot by Santana showed Slager shooting the unarmed Scott in the back repeatedly, many of Johnson’s Twitter followers found his assertion either irrelevant or absurd.
@ChuckCJohnson even if they edited out Walter Scott literally having just murdered someone, the cop should be charged. — TV Is Great (@tvisgreat) April 8, 2015
@ChuckCJohnson ur dumber that u thought if you think they are charging only based on the tape. Bullets in his back another clue. — dontaskme (@SpineCareDoc) April 8, 2015
@ChuckCJohnson If you’re so good at spotting doctored videos why couldn’t you discern fake Mike Brown photos?
— Self Aware Devo Hat (@Unirregardless) April 8, 2015
But Johnson was adamant.
The media doctored #georgeZimmerman call & Rodney King assault video but we are expected to believe them on #WalterScott tape. Why? — Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) April 8, 2015
The full video of Michael Slager shooting Walter Scott in the back can be viewed at this link . Viewers can decide for themselves whether there was a conspiracy to doctor the video.
[Image: YouTube Screen Capture]