Political Quotes

“The gentleman raised a very important point that I want to make sure is not lost, and then I certainly look forward to you articulating some of the things you have been working on in terms of legislative proposals. But most of us, most folks in America do believe that police officers generally are entitled to the benefit of the doubt in the context of a police encounter because of the inherent dangerousness of what law enforcement officers do. Certainly the former mayor of the city of New York famously said--this is Rudolph Giuliani: In every case, I am going to give police officers the benefit of the doubt. But there is peril in the misapplication of that standard because if it goes too far, as the gentleman points out, there are some who believe that even if I cross the line, there will be no accountability. And in this particular case what was so chilling about the video, after Walter Scott is gunned down, is that this officer, not knowing that this entire encounter was covered on video, felt that he could drop something next to the body of Walter Scott and presumably, in his mind, that would be part of the narrative that he would use to get himself exonerated because he understood that he would be entitled to the benefit of the doubt. In the absence of video, in this particular case he could potentially have gotten away with murder. So I thank the gentleman for raising that point. We have got to have a real conversation.…”