There is a portion of the interaction between Mr. Scott and the officer that is not captured on film.
Film #1 - By police car webcam. Shows there is no lighted tail light visible on left rear of Scott vehicle when he comes to a stop in front of the police car. Officer taps the tail light area with his hand as he approaches the driver side of the car.
A passenger can be seen inside the Scott vehicle. Mr. Scott begins to exit vehicle once and is directed by officer to get back into the vehicle. He does. Then, just a little later, Mr. Scott exits the vehicle, running away from the car. Then you can hear officer running after him, shouting something about tazing.
Film #2 - Bystander film This film picks up AFTER the bystander has seen Mr. Scott on the ground with the police officer over him. This event was not filmed. The film begins with Mr. Scott running away from the officer and captures the shooting of Mr. Scott.
So the very important - probably essential - part of the interaction between the two was NOT filmed.
I too do not have any great amount of sympathy for Mr. Scott. IMO he contributed to his own death by twice fleeing from police. Once AFTER being tazered.
What should the officer have done in the circumstance? Let the guy get away?
You have a situation where a guy is pulled over, he has no paperwork on the car, says he just bought it and then changes the story to "I'm going to buy it on Monday". Of course the cop suspects it is a stolen vehicle. Cop is checking out the driver and the vehicle when Scott flees. Did the cop already learn Scott had warrants? If so, are we sure they were only for non-payment of child support? Did the cop learn that the vehicle was indeed listed as being stolen? Or that it was unregistered?
So Scott is fleeing, cop tazers him and Scott goes down onto ground. Officer is over Scott and it appears to bystander that officer "has things under control". Then SOMETHING happens that allows Scott to get up and flee once again. WHAT happened? Nothing? Nothing at all? It just does not make sense that Scott got away from that situation without SOMETHING taking place.
What if the officer was telling the truth, that Scott DID "go for his tazer"? Or even if not, Scott was up and once again fleeing. What was the officer to do then? Let him get away?
I will say, I do not understand all of the parameters the various police departments are under as to who they can shoot and who they can't. But I do think there are damn good reasons wise parents instruct their children not to EVER run from the police.
And the "he didn't like police" and "he didn't want to go to jail for not paying child support" is surely not a very good excuse for what Scott did.
Yes, the bystander film is dramatic, but it does not tell the full story.