Ear Hustle

Police Refuse to Release Video of White Cop Killing Black Man in His Own Driveway

Craven-and-Satterwhite-1200x545_c

Not all police shootings are captured on video. Sometimes police departments do not use body cameras, or body cameras are turned off by officers during or prior to the incident. Other incidents aren’t captured on video because they weren’t within view of the dashcam. There is, however, video of a black man being shot to death by a white police officer in his own driveway, but police are refusing to release the video.

South Carolina cop Justin Craven, 25, put on his blue lights and followed 68-year-old Ernest Satterwhite for nine miles in an attempt to pull him over on suspicion of drunk driving.

Once Satterwhite pulled to a stop in his own driveway, Craven stormed to the elderly man’s vehicle and fired several shots into his car.

According to The Guardian, Craven told deputies that Satterwhite reached for a gun.

From the Huffington Post‘s September 2014 report:

Edgefield County deputies who joined in the chase reported that Craven ran up to Satterwhite’s parked car and fired several shots into the driver’s side door, telling the other officers that Satterwhite tried to grab his gun. The other officers couldn’t get Satterwhite’s door open, so they broke the passenger side window, unlocked that door and dragged him out.

The paper also reports that the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) refuses to release the dashcam video of the shooting, which law enforcement insiders describe off the record as horrible. Those who have seen the video, but have been threatened if they go on the record, reportedly confirmed that Satterwhite had no time to respond before Craven opened fire.

Head of SLED, Mark Keel, says he worries that releasing the video will prevent Craven from getting a fair trial.

Craven currently faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of misconduct in office and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle. A prosecutor tried to indict Craven on a manslaughter charge over Satterwhite’s February 2014 death, but a grand jury refused to indict.

Source: Breaking Brown

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