Violation of ‘ humanity & decency’: Blas

The jarring video of an unarmed black man being shot in the back and killed as he was fleeing from awhite cop in South Carolina took center stage at the National Action Network’s annual convention in Midtown Wednesday.

In their opening speeches, both NAN leader Rev. Al Sharpton and Mayor de Blasio expressed deep concern about the shooting death of Walter Scott in North Charleston.

“You can’t watch that as a human being and not feel pain,” de Blasio told the crowd of hundreds at the Sheraton New York.

“It makes no sense, according to what our core notions of humanity and decency and justice are.”

The convention typically centers around issues of civil and criminal justice, but Scott’s killing by Police Officer Michael Slager put an added emphasis on the push to outfit police forces nationwide with body cameras. New York City is currently piloting two types of cameras in a handful of police precincts.

“There’s some very good indications from body-cam-era use around the country that it can change the whole equation, that it gives you an immediate level of transparency and accountability for everyone involved,” de Blasio later told reporters.

Both he and Sharpton also gave considerable credit to North Charleston authorities for immediately charging Slager with murder in response to the evidence in the video.

“Walter Scott’s death is a senseless tragedy and we commend the city of North Charleston for acting swiftly to deliver justice in this case,” said Sharpton.

Yoav Gonen