lol, i tend not take the killers word very seriously to be honest because they have every reason to lie. but when you have several eye witnesses who all say the same thing, and have little to no reason to lie, i tend to pay attention to them. and these witnesses seem pretty credible. their stories are basically the same.
i've personally seen crooked cops my whole life, so i obviously am biased, but my bias is based on personal experiences. crooked cops were the norm where i grew up, because hey, who is a white jury going to believe? poor people, or the cops. so the cops feel they can do what ever the hell they want. and it wasn't just towards black people, it was everyone, though my black friends got it worst of all lol.
my friend brian was once hand cuffed and then pushed down a flight of stairs lmao. which ok i did find funny, and he did mouth off and call the black cop that did it and called him a sell out, but still, he could have died. he's in prison now for murder, so he's not exactly a great person for that, but still, the police should respect the laws that they claim they are enforcing.
i saw my white friend andy get beat up by the same cop like 10 times lol. officer struck was his name, he kicked the shit out of so many people it was unreal, but he LOVED kicking andy's ass. he'd do it every time he saw him. so i think i have a good reason to be untrusting of the police, namely that they have earned it.