SC - Levar Jones, shot by cop during traffic stop, says police body-cam use vital

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An unarmed South Carolina man who was shot during a routine traffic stop wants a body camera on every cop.

Levar Jones, who was injured by Trooper Sean Groubert in September at a Columbia gas station, said he supports a South Carolina police plan that would require officers to wear body cameras. The state’s police chiefs proposed the policy after Scott Walker, another South Carolina man, was shot and killed following a traffic stop earlier this month.

[...]

Jones — who has no criminal record and was unarmed — was shot in the hip. Groubert was booted from the force and charged with felony assault and battery.

“I was shot for nothing,” he said. “I am lucky to be alive. I didn't do anything but go for my license, as I told him. He just shot at me.”

[...]

Jones said the video of his shooting was difficult to watch, but he’s glad it exists.

“Please show everybody the video of me being shot because that is the reality of what is going on in America today,” he said.

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Unbelievable. The guy steps out of his vehicle, then notices the cop had just driven up, the cop asks for his license, the guy reaches in his vehicle for it and boom - the cop fires. What is wrong with some LE? How are they being chosen? If the cop didn't want the guy reaching back in his vehicle for the license he just asked him to produce, the cop should have made that clear since the guy was out of his vehicle going about his business. It was not up to the person being stopped to ask - can I reach in my vehicle for my license? He was simply complying.

Glad he was booted from the force - unfortunately a considerable sum will still have to be paid out by the tax payers. Imo, these cops have to start being financially responsible for their criminal actions. Garnishee future wages and recover as much as possible to repay the taxpayers.
 
Yes, Levar did nothing wrong. I would be seething with rage if a cop shot me WHEN I WAS COMPLYING with his/her orders !!!!!!
One thing to act in a suspicious manner when pulled over, or to disobey a direct order--- which Levar did not do. Smh.
:moo:
 
Three years ago I was pulled over for speeding. Guilty. I sat in the car with my hands visible, fingers spread, wrists resting on top of the steering wheel. LEO asked the crying me why I was holding my hands like that. I replied, "so you are very aware I don't have a weapon." He kinda blinked at me, then smiled, thanked me, and politely wrote out my ticket :(

People thought I was silly holding my hands like that. I'm alive to tell the tale, though. Yikes.
 
Obviously I cannot defend this cop's actions. He messed that stop up, big time. I am glad he was fired. What a nightmare for Mr. Jones.

But I don't think this was a malicious action by the cop. I think he had the PD version of PTSD. He seemed certain that Jones was going to pull down on him, even though he was just innocently following orders. That seems like an extreme type of paranoia that can set in when a soldier or a cop gets urban PTSD. JMO
 
http://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article13903880.html

A timeline was set Monday morning for a trial to be held for a fired S.C. Highway Patrol trooper accused of shooting a motorist he pulled over for a seat belt violation.

Nicole Holland, a spokeswoman with the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, which is prosecuting the case, said the solicitor requested that 270 days – the longest time possible – be allotted to reach a conclusion in the case of Sean Groubert.

That means a trial verdict may not be reached until at least July 2015.
 
Obviously I cannot defend this cop's actions. He messed that stop up, big time. I am glad he was fired. What a nightmare for Mr. Jones.

But I don't think this was a malicious action by the cop. I think he had the PD version of PTSD. He seemed certain that Jones was going to pull down on him, even though he was just innocently following orders. That seems like an extreme type of paranoia that can set in when a soldier or a cop gets urban PTSD. JMO

Is there any indication of PTSD in any reports? I'm not too keen on just assuming that about someone, in some attempt to explain away something like this. JMO
 
March 2016:

White S.C. trooper pleads guilty* in shooting of unarmed black man

Trooper Sean Groubert, 32, faces up to 20 years in prison. The shooting captured on dash-cam video from the trooper's patrol car shocked the country, coming during a wave of questionable police shootings.

Video of the encounter was played in the courtroom and showed Groubert pulling up to Jones without his siren on, and the trooper asking Jones for his license after he also was out of his car.

As Jones cried in pain waiting for an ambulance, he repeated: "Why did you shoot me?"

Through Jones' painful groans, Groubert replied: "Well, you dove head first back into your car."

* To assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.

September 2016:

SC man shot by trooper 2 years ago still seeks justice

Trooper Sean Groubert was fired, and is still waiting to be sentenced in the case on assault charges.

[snip]

Groubert pled guilty to assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.

That was back in March and nearly seven months later he still hasn't been sentenced.

[snip]

We're told it's up to the judge to set a date for Sean Groubert's sentencing.

Levar Jones also reached a $285,000 settlement in the case through the state's insurance reserve fund.
 
Is there any indication of PTSD in any reports? I'm not too keen on just assuming that about someone, in some attempt to explain away something like this. JMO

His lawyer brought up an incident from 2012 and said he was suffering from PTSD, but I haven't seen anything to suggest he was diagnosed or treated for it and if he did have it? Bad idea to put him back to work. Plus would he have pleaded guilty if he could use PTSD as a legitimate defense? JMO but I don't think so.
 
Ugh I had forgotten about this one (a shame we're able to forget any of them because there are just so darn many).
 
March 18, 2017:
Shot by former trooper, Levar Jones still waiting for resolution

But Groubert pleaded guilty in March 2016 to assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature for the wrongful shooting. A year later, the case still has not come to an end: Groubert has not been sentenced.

Though he was paid $285,000 in 2014 through the state’s Insurance Reserve Fund, much of it went to attorneys, replacing his vehicle that was impounded as part of the investigation and to cover his medical bills.

He should not have had to pay his own medical bills.

When Groubert pleaded guilty, his attorney, Giese, told Manning that Groubert suffered from post traumatic stress disorder from a 2012 shootout with a suspect in a Five Points bank parking lot.

After the Jones shooting, Groubert was released on bond, then was placed on house arrest after he and his wife were accused of shoplifting* in November 2015.

Groubert has been held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center since pleading guilty in March 2016, according to jail records.

*Former SC Highway Patrol trooper, wife charged for shoplifting at Walmart
 
I guess as long as he's in jail whether or not he's been sentenced doesn't much matter.
I'd be unhappy if he was roaming free with no sentencing date. Weird though.
 
Ex-South Carolina trooper sent to prison for shooting unarmed black motorist

A former South Carolina state trooper will serve a total of five years behind bars for shooting and injuring an unarmed black driver during a 2014 traffic stop, an incident that added to the debate roiling the country over the treatment of black men by law enforcement officers.

Circuit Court Judge Casey Manning on Tuesday sentenced Groubert to 12 years' incarceration but suspended the prison time to five years and gave him credit for the 17 months he has served in jail after pleading guilty. Groubert will have to serve his full sentence only if he violates probation after his release from prison.

Wearing a jail jumpsuit and shackled in chains at his sentencing hearing, in a Columbia courtroom, the former trooper apologized to Jones.

"I screwed up," Groubert told Jones. "I pray that one day you'll be able to come to peace with this and forgive me."
 

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