He was running away. They shot him in the back.

There's a special place in hell for government officials who bury unfavorable news by dumping it the day before Thanksgiving. 

The cops up in southwest Washington are going to that place.

They chose today to release surveillance video, laced with their version, of the police killing of Kevin Peterson Jr. He was selling drugs. He had a handgun. He ran from them. They thought he was a threat. After he was first shot, he sat up and pointed something at the cops who had shot him.

But you can skip through all of that. None of it is new. What is new is the five seconds of video from the bank branch security camera that shows Peterson being shot from behind as he ran away. It's at about 8:10 of the 11-minute police version. At that point, he is not pointing anything at anyone.




He was running away. They shot him in the back.

The police video fills in more of the details of where Peterson ran to try to get away from them. The initial confrontation did take place in the north parking lot of the motel. Peterson ran around the back of the motel, on its north side, heading east and then turning south. It looks like he cut through a corner of the used car lot to get into the bank lot. He ran along the retaining wall on the east side of the bank branch, got to the south end of the parking lot, then turned back north when the deputies pulled into the lot.

Thank heaven for the bank video. Without it, lies would have been told.

The other day a reporter who's been following the case posted an additional fact about the investigation on Twitter.

It appears this case has just about all the elements that Black people complain about. To dump the evidence on Thanksgiving Eve, though – wow, that's a new low.

UPDATE, that evening: I've slowed down the video to get a better look. It is here.

Comments