Welcome!

Welcome to Erik. B. Scott Newsreel blog.  My intent is to collect all credible, publicly available information about Erik's life and death into one place for easy reference.  I do this in part because this case deserves the widest public scrutiny possible, and to the extent that he has been slandered and defamed, Erik's name deserves to be cleared.  I also write with the larger purpose of raising awareness of the national epidemic of police misconduct toward both innocent and guilty parties, and hopefully ending the problem. Along with the factual, I will intermingle relevant editorials, including some thoughts of my own.

The scourge of police misconduct was a concern of mine long before I heard of this case.  We constantly hear of police corruption, from petty crimes to sexual impropriety, from drug dealing to dubious beatings and equally dubious killings.  Generally, victims of the police have a criminal history.  All too often, they're minorities.  Our compliant media, frequently no more than house organs for government to begin with, are all too happy to marginalize these victims, preparing an already numb public for the finding of "justified" in the farcical inquests that follow.

The law of averages allows police to mistreat most of the people they come in contact with, but that same law dictates that now and then, they will mess with the wrong people and pay a big price for it.  When I first heard the details of the Erik Scott killing I was stunned.  Not just at the facts, which instantly suggest a glaring injustice, but at the possibility that maybe, just maybe, this was the wrongful death that would blow the lid off this national mess!

Erik was the wrong man to kill, for a number of reasons.  Most importantly, of course, he did nothing wrong.  But what complicates this for the cops and Costco is that he's a difficult victim to marginalize:  Erik came from a fine family, and was not the first of the Scotts to serve our country.  He graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point, where one must be a standout just to be considered for admission.  Erik's Army service was exemplary, and was chronicled by his superior officers with consistent (and frankly, astonishing) praise.  After an honorable discharge, Erik went on to earn an MBA from Duke University, and distinguished himself in his civilian endeavors just as he had in the Army.

Erik was not alone in Costco that fateful day - he was shopping with his girlfriend.  That's hardly a scenario in which anyone would behave in a way that justified the employment of deadly force.  Erik was carrying a gun the when he was killed, but he was not a bad guy by any stretch of the imagination.  His current and valid concealed weapons permit was actually issued by the same jurisdiction that killed him for having a gun, the same jurisdiction that then covered up their own bad shoot.

As someone who also has been involved in the shooting sports for over three decades, I've been around plenty of cops.  I once counted a number of cops among my friends, although that is no longer the case.  With sadness, I've watched as the overall makeup of most police forces mutated from respectable Americans to dimwitted bullies. I've seen the level of integrity in most police departments decline precipitously in this same period.  I know I'm generalizing, and I acknowledge that there have always been exceptions to these generalizations.  Obviously, police corruption wasn't just ushered in over the last 30 years.  And, equally obviously, there were dimwitted bullies long before my time, as well as while I was around cops, just as respectable Americans who are far form dimwitted bullies serve on police forces today.

But there aren't enough of them.  Today's welcome exceptions only serve to prove the rule.  And, it doesn't take a high percentage of really bad actors to ruin any department when almost all the rest won't say a word about what's wrong.  So what if 98% aren't bullies themselves - if they cover for the ones who are, they're on the slippery slope of dishonesty.  Under the laws that apply to the rest of us, they are as guilty as the bullies themselves.

At two different times in my life I have been an NRA certified firearms instructor, and have taught the classes required for obtaining a concealed weapons permit.  With this background I can make a number of statements about this case with complete confidence.  Among them:  1) Anyone can carry a gun.  By definition, the folks who bother to get a permit are the good guys - the ones who obey  the law even though it is inconvenient.  2) We teach our concealed carry students that when they are armed, they must bend over backwards to avoid conflict, including backing down when an unarmed person might not.  Since our students are law abiding to begin with, there is no resistance to this concept.  3) The worst students in any of my classes, by far, were the security guards. 4) Among cops, there is widespread animosity toward concealed weapons permits, and a growing record of mistreatment of permit holders.  From personal experience in a large metro area, I can say that only a minority of cops support allowing people to defend themselves.  

Obviously, there is much that I understand about the systemic defects in government that killed Erik.  I hope to arouse in others the passion I have for righting these wrongs.  The needed reforms are not trivial things, and we need to keep pushing until deaths like Erik's become extraordinarily improbable.  This will be both a drastic change and a vast improvement over the present, where wrongful deaths are the regular and predictable outcome of conditions that shouldn't ever exist in a free country.

Thus far, the only formal questions about Erik's death were asked in an inquest which no honest person can describe as anything but an amateurish cover-up.  Until this case is examined in an honest forum, this isn't over.  I invite any and all with interest in this case in particular and/or the topic of police misconduct general to follow along and push for reform.  Comments are enabled, and welcome, but will be moderated.  This is not a platform for angry cops, sycophants or wannabe's and their rationalizations, roid rage and power tripping arrogance.

More than six months have passed since the day Erik was killed by Las Vegas cops.  I've had this project in the back of my mind for awhile, and apologize for the late start and the fact that I'll be playing catch up for a bit.  I will be grateful for any help in keeping this chronicle accurate and up to date.  My primary focus will remain on the Scott case until it is successfully concluded, but it would be a fitting memorial to Erik if this blog grew to serve as a forum for others who have a dog in this police misconduct hunt.  Anyone with information on any other misconduct cases who wishes to have an article published is welcome to get in touch. 

Thank you.  Let's see to a future in which blogs like this can't be written for lack of material!