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 The shooting occurred on Saturday in North Charleston, a town of
about 100,000 people, nearly half of whom are black, but it gained
national media attention on Tuesday when the video became public.
The incident was recorded by a man identified by NBC News as Feidin
Santana. In an interview with the network, he said the victim,
50-year-old Walter Scott, had been hit by the officer's stun gun
before fleeing to avoid further stun gun fire.
The video, which Santana said he gave to Scott's family, shows a
brief scuffle between Scott and police officer Michael Slager, 33,
before Scott runs. Slager is then seen taking aim with a handgun
before shooting eight times at Scott's back.
"He made a bad decision," Santana said of the officer. "You pay for
your decisions in this life. I think Mr. Scott didn't deserve this."
The shooting was the latest in a series of deaths during police
encounters in the United States that have led protesters to decry
racism and police brutality.
North Charleston Police Chief Eddie Driggers said at a news
conference that he did not know whether officers had performed
cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Scott, who had been stopped by
police for a broken brake light on his vehicle.
With Scott slumped facedown on grass, Slager is seen placing him in
handcuffs and then walking back to a spot near where he opened fire.
The video then shows him appearing to pick something up, return to
Scott, and drop it next to him.
Driggers and North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey did not answer a
question about the object.
"There are questions that I have in my mind that I can't answer
right now," Driggers said. No other officers have been disciplined,
officials said.
According to a police report, Slager told other officers that Scott
had taken his stun gun from him. At no point in the video, which
does not show the initial contact between the men, does Scott appear
to be armed.
Summey said that the full video had not been made available to him.
He said there is additional footage from a patrol car camera.
The mayor said Slager had been fired but said the city would cover
insurance for his family until his Slager's wife, who is eight
months pregnant, gives birth.
Summey said the city's police force will soon be equipped with body
cameras.
DEBATE ON POLICE AND RACE
Slager was charged on Tuesday with murder in a shooting reminiscent
of several deaths of black men over the past year in cities
including New York; Ferguson, Missouri; and Cleveland, Ohio.
The shootings have stirred debate across the country about police
conduct and race relations, also drawing into the discussion
President Barack Obama, who an aide said has seen the Scott video.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of
Justice are investigating Scott's shooting, which has drawn strong
reaction from political leaders and on social media.
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South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, along with U.S. Senators
Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, all Republicans, decried the shooting,
with both senators releasing statements calling the video
"horrific."
Civil rights leaders called for calm, with many on social media,
where #WalterScott was a trending topic, praising the witness who
filmed the shooting and gave the video to Scott's family.
Holding signs that read "The whole world is watching" and "Back
turned, don't shoot," protesters in front of North Charleston's city
hall said Scott's death should not be viewed as an isolated
incident.
About two miles away, in the oak tree-studded park where Scott was
killed, a makeshift memorial had been erected, comprising a small
white cross, two bouquets of plastic flowers and a half-dozen votive
candles.
The shooting was the 11th involving a police officer in South
Carolina this year and the second in North Charleston, said Thom
Berry, spokesman for the state's law enforcement division. No one
was injured in the prior incident in January, he said.
Chris Stewart, an attorney for the Scott family, said they plan to
sue.
North Charleston, which has a 2015 budget of $105.6 million, about
one-third of which goes to the police department, could end up
paying out a significant amount to Scott’s family, according to
legal experts.
"The municipality is going to be on the hook for seven or eight
figures," said Mark Geragos, a criminal defense lawyer. "The last
thing they’re going to want to do is put this in front of a jury."
Slager, who like Scott is a former member of the Coast Guard, was
accused by a man of shooting him with a stun gun without cause in
2013, but was cleared of wrongdoing in an internal investigation.
Last year, he was found to have failed to fill out an incident
report, records show.
(Additional reporting by Colleen Jenkins, Ellen Wulfhorst, Hilary
Russ, Letitia Stein, David Adams and Doina Chiacu; Writing by
Jonathan Kaminsky; Editing by Grant McCool and Ken Wills)
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