Re: My first thought ...
"Why "probably a fake"?"
The way the story has been released and talked about (I saw it "live" as a breaking story on tuesday morning) on the news around here (I live less than an hour's drive from San Francisco) makes me suspect that they are withholding something. It just has that feeling about it. There is something wrong with the story. For example, they are not calling it a "hit and run", they are just looking for the driver of the supposed second vehicle, with no description of said vehicle. WTF? I thought they had video of it? The whole presentation is totally abnormal for cases like this in the SF Bay Area.
Couple that with the entire self-driving vehicle industry being extremely economical with the truth, this particular company already getting a lot of bad press around here, and the wide availability of so-called "AI" software with the capability of grafting fake images onto existing video, well, it kinda makes me go hmmmmm.
"And why with access to all sorts of expert witnesses, including image/video analysis experts, would the police be "not likely to be able to spot a faked video"?"
It usually takes a day or two to round up said witnesses. It hasn't even been 24 hours yet as I type. A standard cop on the street isn't trained in this kind of thing any more than yer DearOldMum is,
"Are you such a ghoul that you think the public have some right to see people being injured, possibly badly?"
Again, did you not see where I typed "edited"? That's how it ALWAYS happens around here. They cut out the icky bits, the actual impact, etc. Except today. Nothing. And no, I do not want to see the video myself. I'm no macabre voyeur, and have never intentionally gone looking for videos of other people's misfortune. It's not my cuppa.
"You should also consider what "law enforcement" do - it is THEIR job to investigate this, NOT the public."
I never said otherwise. HOWEVER, in cases similar to this in the past, they ALWAYS release video (or at least a couple stills) of the suspect's vehicle (if it exists), and ask for the public's help in tracking it down. Not this time. Why not? What's so special about it? I smell a rat.
"Twatter, TikTok etc seem have given people the belief that they can trample ::snip::"
I don't do twitter, ticktok, etc. etc. IMO, they rot the brain.