Police Murder of Unarmed Black Grandfather Covered Up: Killed In February and Cops Won't Release Details — Claim They're Still 'Investigating'

The victim was shot through the window of his car while he was in his own driveway.

Ernest Satterwhite.

By Patrik Jonsson
The case of an unarmed black grandfather shot to death in his own driveway by a white police officer in South Carolina has fueled demands for more transparency into cases where unarmed civilians are killed by police.

Police have confirmed that North Augusta Officer Justin Craven shot and killed Ernest Satterwhite in February, but have refused to release details about their investigation.

The lack of transparency into Mr. Satterwhite’s death and Mr. Craven’s culpability has raised hackles in the black community.

Such tensions have intensified since the Aug. 9 police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., where unrest still simmers as residents demand the arrest of the officer.

The two incidents cut to a stark fact of US policing: Namely, that a real and sometimes perceived lack of transparency from police fuels distrust – which in turn raises the stakes for officers on the beat.

Indeed, given a recent increase in officers dying in ambush attacks, “I’m afraid it might become a default response for officers to have their guns drawn and maybe react a little more quickly,” says Thomas Aveni, a veteran police officer and executive director of the Police Policy Studies Council in Spofford, N.H.

The handling of the incident involving Craven stands in stark contrast to another case in the state from earlier this month. South Carolina Highway Patrol decided to release video last week that shows state Trooper Sean Groubert, who is white, telling a black motorist to get his license and then shooting him when the motorist reaches into his own car. The trooper was fired and brought up on felony assault charges.

US police shoot and kill an average of 1,000 people a year, 1 in 4 of whom are unarmed, according to data from Mr. Aveni and the FiveThirtyEight blog by Nate Silver. Seventy-nine officers have died so far this year, 35 from gunshots, according to a nonprofit group called the Officer Down Memorial Page.

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