Erik Scott’s murder and subsequent cover-up are an unbelievably horrifying story and one you probably haven’t heard. Scott was murdered in a Costco parking lot by Las Vegas Metro cops. Scott’s senseless murder and surrounding events are blood boiling. It’s an unfortunate example of government corruption, of the perversion of the justice system that has afflicted far too many locals, and of bureaucrats who will do whatever is necessary to cover and conceal the deplorable acts of their employees.
Thankfully, Legal Insurrection reader Mike McDaniel picked up the story and followed it in earnest. McDaniel is a former police officer who served as a patrolman, crime scene photographer, detective, shift supervisor, division commander, SWAT officer, field training officer and firearm instructor. He is an Air Force veteran, having helped fight the Cold War, and a European and Japanese fencer. He’s written and published a book called License To Kill: The Murder Of Erik Scott which discusses Scott’s case in great detail. His book can be purchased here.
Before we get to the interview, this video, which is a snippet from the documentary “What Happened in Vegas,” outlines the basics of the story:
We had the privilege of speaking with Mike about his research and investigative work on Scott’s story.
LI: How did you learn about this story?
MM: I learned about the story by reading a brief article by my friend Bob Owens on the now-defunct Confederate Yankee blog. Bob invited me to follow up on his article, and after the response to my follow up, invited me to be his co-blogger. That was the beginning of my blogging journey.
LI: What compelled you to dig deeper?
MM: Knowing nothing but what was in Bob’s short article, everything about the case sounded wrong. The normal, essential things any law enforcement agency should have done went undone, and the things no competent, honest law enforcement agency would do, they did. Erik Scott’s background also stood out; this was not the sort of person who has contact with the police, and surely not the kind of person police officers legitimately shoot. Because of my police background in honest agencies, I initially tended to give Metro the benefit of the doubt. As I investigated, I soon realized they didn’t deserve it–quite the opposite.
LI: What shocked or frightened you most about what you found?
MM: What appalled me most was the extent of the cover-up and the arrogance of everyone involved. The cover-up extended to every department of Metro, the Public Administrator’s office, the prosecutors, the police union, and more, and those that wouldn’t play along were threatened. Most of the local media played along. Even though the Review-Journal did an extensive series of articles proving Metro routinely killed innocent people and was absolutely not to be trusted, they bought and repeated the Erik Scott Metro narrative without question. I contacted them multiple times over the years with leads and offers of help, but they never responded.
LI: You mentioned there’s been a fair amount of intimidation as a result of covering this story, can you tell us a little bit about that?
MM: I have not been indirectly or directly attacked over this story, but many Las Vegas residents who dared to place magnetic signs on their cars memorializing Erik Scott were followed, stopped, ticketed and threatened by Metro and Henderson cops. The Scott family, fearing for their supporter’s safety, soon had to urge everyone to remove the signs. Samantha Sterner, Erik’s fiance who witnessed his killing, was stopped and harassed, without cause, three times within days. Bill Scott, Erik father, who was also pursuing the case on the Internet experienced a denial of service attack. Using his many contacts, he was able to determine it was a sophisticated attack requiring government-level software. Metro has that sort of resource and is known for using it against anyone that displeases them. I suspect their current plan is to try to ignore the book. I recently contacted the Review-Journal, as have others, with offers of a free copy of the book. They have not responded.
LI: Anything else you’d like to add?
MM: This is an important story because every honest police officer knows they must have the respect of the public. They, and our system, survive only because most people are willing to obey the law most of the time. If we can’t trust our police, we’re on the road to anarchy. Fortunately, most American agencies are honest, as are most police officers. Honest Metro officers have told me as much as 3/4 of the force is incompetent and corrupt.
This is an incredibly important story that deserves to be doused in sunlight disinfectant. To purchase your copy of McDaniel’s book, click here. To read more on his blog, see here.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY
