A white South Carolina police officer was arrested Tuesday after video showed him fatally shooting a fleeing, unarmed black man in the back. North Charleston Police Officer Michael T. Slager, 33, can be seen shooting 50-year-old Walter Scott after a confrontation on Saturday, according to The Post and Courier. Slager chases Scott and shoots at him eight times in the video recorded by a passerby and obtained by The New York Times. Scott was later pronounced dead. The graphic video raises questions about Slager’s original assertion that he used his gun because he felt endangered. WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO The confrontation started when Slager had reportedly pulled over…
A white South Carolina police officer was arrested Tuesday after video showed him fatally shooting a fleeing, unarmed black man in the back.
North Charleston Police Officer Michael T. Slager, 33, can be seen shooting 50-year-old Walter Scott after a confrontation on Saturday, according to The Post and Courier. Slager chases Scott and shoots at him eight times in the video recorded by a passerby and obtained by The New York Times.
Scott was later pronounced dead.
The graphic video raises questions about Slager’s original assertion that he used his gun because he felt endangered.
WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO
The confrontation started when Slager had reportedly pulled over Scott because of a broken taillight. It escalated into a foot chase as Scott allegedly fled because there were family court-issued warrants for his arrest. Slager pursued Scott into a grassy lot and claimed that he fired his Taser to subdue him.
Moments later, Slager reported on his radio, “Shots fired and the subject is down. He took my Taser,” according to the Times
Earlier this week, an attorney for Slager said the cop felt threatened after Scott tried to overpower him and take his Taser. Today that attorney told The Post and Courier that he’s “no longer involved” in the case.
But first images in the video are of Slager shooting at Scott as he runs away from him. It also appears that Slager drops the Taser near Scott after he was gunned down, according to The New York Times
The Post and Courier reports:
Police Chief Eddie Driggers said Tuesday that Slager had been arrested.
Mayor Keith Summey added during a news conference that as a result of the video and Slager’s “bad decision,” the officer would be charged with murder.
Summey said Slager’s actions were not representative of the entire police force.
Scott had been arrested about 10 times in the past, mostly for failing to pay child support or show up for hearings, according to the paper.
“He has four children, he doesn’t have some type of big violent past or arrest record. He had a job, he was engaged,” a lawyer for Scott’s family told the Times. “He had back child support and didn’t want to go to jail for back child support.”
A screen shot from the video that shows the shooting death of #WalterScott pic.twitter.com/Hu1bB7Wy4B
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) April 7, 2015
The shooting in North Charleston comes on the heels of several high-profile cases of police officers using deadly forced against unarmed black men in Ferguson, Missouri, Cleveland and New York.
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Video Shows Officer Michael Slager Shooting Unarmed Black Man In The Back In South Carolina
