Outrageous Police Killing of Unarmed White Teen: Minuscule Media Coverage, No National Outrage

The death of Zachary Hammond

NOTE by David Sims: The US Supreme Court is composed, at present, of persons opposed to the supreme authority of the Bill of Rights. They want to subordinate the Constitution of the United States, as amended, to “balancing tests” with government interests, and that’s the position of the softer justices. The hardliners among them don’t want any balancing tests; they only want the might of the state to triumph over the will of the people.

This is authoritarianism at its worst. We haven’t yet had any bombers or tanks demolish a town, but that’s only a matter of time. We have had police officers commit murder in broad daylight and on video, and then get away scot-free because of the “qualified immunity” doctrine that the US Supreme Court recently expanded.

The ultimate reason for this kind of governmental behavior is that our government has sold itself to Jewish bankers. The government is ensnared in a usury racket of Jewish design, through the agency of the Federal Reserve System. What was our government has become their attack-dog. Whereas we Americans, we citizens, were once the insiders, we are now the outsiders. The police really are there to shoot us, unless we do as we are told.

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ON JULY 26, 2015, Zachary Hammond, 19, was on a date with Tori Morton, 24, in the parking lot at Hardee’s fast-food restaurant in Seneca, South Carolina when he was shot and killed by a police officer who was trying to arrest Morton on a drug charge.

Official police reports said the officer, Lt. Mark Tiller, shot Hammond in self-defense after Hammond failed to show his hands as ordered, backed his vehicle up and then drove toward the officer.

But, his family says an autopsy shows Hammond was shot in the back.

Here are the latest developments in the Zachary Hammond case:

Hammond Family Claims Cover Up

Nov. 25, 2015 – Attorneys for the family of an unarmed South Carolina teen who was shot by a police officer during a drug sting in a fast-food restaurant parking lot have accused city officials of attempting to cover up the fact they hired a “rogue cop.”

The accusation came in motions filed in federal court over the city of Seneca’s attempt to block the release of communications between city officials and the public relations firm hired to handle inquiries about the July 26 shooting of Zachary Hammond by police Lt Mark Tiller in a Hardee’s parking lot.

The family, in its lawsuit against the Seneca Police Department, Police Chief John Covington and Lt Tiller, has subpoenaed any records held by Complete Public Relations (CPR), the firm hired by the city of Seneca to handle media questions about the Hammond case while it was being investigated by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

Attorneys for police department filed a motion to quash the subpoena, claiming that any communications between the city and the PR firm is protected by attorney-client privilege, because the city attorney supervised and assisted the firm’s efforts.

The motion cites an unpublished Nevada case in which the court protected communications between counsel and a public relations consultant in a high-profile case.

In response to the motion to quash the subpoena, attorneys for the Hammonds filed a scathing 14-page response accusing the police department of a cover up and accuses their attorneys of misinterpreting the case they cited to support their position.

“As a threshold matter, the case defendants rely upon for the curious privilege they now assert states that ‘privilege does not apply if the client, rather than the attorney, directly hires the public relations firm,'” Bland Richter, attorney for the Hammonds, wrote in the response.

“In light of this clear ruling, the defendants are forced into a tortured interpretation of their own legal authority in an attempt to skirt around the single hard and fast rule issued from their own case. Who hired CPR? Unfortunately for the defendants, their ‘facts’ on who hired CPR does not pass the smell test,” Richter said.

In his response, Richter points out that the video of the shooting incident contradicts the police department’s official version of events.

To support his claim of a cover up, Richter also points to the police chief releasing the personnel file of Lt Tiller which failed to include a list of the officer’s violations.

The personnel file released by Chief Covington did not include reports of Tiller responding to a call at a high-rate of speed with a ride-along passenger and driving his patrol car into a building.

Nor does it include an incident when Tiller lost his service assault weapon, which was later found and returned by a citizen. The file does not include Tiller once reporting that his police dog was missing overnight.

Richter said the file also did not include Tiller having an extramarital affair with a police department employee. The attorney said all of these items never made it into Tller’s personnel file or were deliberately omitted.

“The defendants hired CPR to assist in the cover-up of their gross negligence in hiring and retaining this rogue police officer, Lt Tiller,” Richter wrote. “Plaintiffs believe that this is what Attorney Smith’s communications will show and why Attorney Smith is desperately seeking to shield them from the sunlight.”

Lawmakers Want Hammond Case Reopened

Nov. 13, 2015 – Two state legislators have requested that the South Carolina Attorney General’s office reopen the investigation into the police shooting of an unarmed teen during a drug sting operation July 26.

Sen. Tom Davis is the latest lawmaker to call on Attorney General Alan Wilson to take a closer look at the shooting of 19-year-old Zachary Hammond in the parking lot of a Hardee’s Restaurant in Seneca by police Lt Mark Tiller.

Davis cited the dashcam video as reason to reopen the case, which was closed after 10th Judicial Circuit solicitor Chrissy Adams announced that no charges would be filled against Tiller.

“I don’t know how anyone watching that video can conclude that the individual in the car was trying to hit the officer or that the officer couldn’t get out of the way,” Davis said.

Davis said the video clearly showed that Tiller was never in harm’s way.

Previously, South Carolina House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford called on Wilson to review the case and promised to introduce legislation to take police shooting cases out of the hands of local prosecutors, who have to work closely with the police in prosecuting cases.

Rutherford also said new legislation may be needed to prevent authorities from withholding videos of police shootings from the public and the media. The Hammond video was kept under raps by S.C. Law Enforcement Division for three months.

Sen. Davis is a republican and Rep. Rutherford is a democrat.

Federal authorities are still investigating the shooting, but Davis said the Attorney General needed to reopen that case so that South Carolina “to take care of its own business.”

No State Charges for Tiller

Oct. 27, 2015 – A South Carolina prosecutor has decided not to file any state charges against a Seneca police officer who shot an unarmed 19-year-old during a drug sting July 26. Lt Mark Tiller will not be charged for the shooting of Zachary Hammond, Tenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams said.

“After careful consideration of the facts of the case, a thorough review of the state investigation, and an extensive review of all applicable law, I have determined that no criminal charges should be filed against Lt Mark Tiller at the state level,” Adams said in a statement.

In an Oct. 26 letter to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, Adams wrote: “The evidence from this investigation corroborates and supports Lt Tiller’s belief that he was going to be run over. Therefore, the only conclusion that can be rendered is that deadly force was justified.”

Adams met with Hammond’s parents and their attorney shortly before releasing her statement to the media.

“I’m very disappointed,” said Zachary’s mother, Angie Hammond, in a barely audible voice after that meeting. “I’m just very, very disappointed.”

Zachary’s father called the incident at the fast-food restaurant July 26, “sorry police work.”

Shortly after Adams’ public statement, SLED released it case files to the media, including the dashcam video of Tiller’s shooting of Hammond.

Watch the Hammond Shooting Video

A federal investigation into the shooting continues.

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Source: About News