South Carolina cop staged scene after
shooting black man: prosecutor
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[November 04, 2016]
By Harriet McLeod
CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - A South
Carolina prosecutor accused a white former police officer on Thursday of
staging a crime scene where he had just shot dead an unarmed black
motorist, by moving a Taser closer to the handcuffed dead body so he
could claim the victim had taken the stun gun.Former North Charleston
police officer Michael Slager, 34, is on trial for murder over the
shooting death of Walter Scott, 50. Slager shot Scott five times in the
back as Scott fled from the 2015 traffic stop for a broken tail light.
The shooting, captured on a bystander's cellphone video, intensified a
national debate over police use of deadly force against black
men.Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson told the jury in opening statements that
Scott may have grabbed Slager's Taser as it was pressed against his body
during a struggle, but Slager had attempted to make the scene look as if
Scott had possession of the weapon as he fled.
"He said Walter Scott came after him with the Taser and he shot him when
he turned. He said, 'He ran away with my Taser,'" Wilson said, jabbing
her finger at Slager.
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In reality, the Taser had fallen to the ground further away, she said.
Slager's "first instinct after he cuffed the dead Walter Scott was to
stage the scene," Wilson said. "He runs back and gets that Taser ... He
walked over to a dead Walter Scott and threw it down right beside him."
Prosecutors contend Scott fled because he was behind on child support
payments and feared a routine check would result in his arrest.
Slager's lead defense attorney, Andrew Savage, countered by shifting
blame to Scott for failing to follow the officer's instructions. He did
not address the claim about moving the Taser.
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![](../images/110416pics/news_I17.jpg)
Former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager, 34, standing
trial on a murder charge in the April 2015 shooting death of
50-year-old Walter Scott, walks into the courtroom in Charleston,
South Carolina, U.S., November 3, 2016. REUTERS/Grace Beahm/Pool
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"Why did he choose not to respect the request to stay where he was?"
Savage said. "That's something I hope you consider when you evaluate the
evidence in this case. He didn't just run. He physically and forcefully
resisted to the extent that they were both fighting on the ground."
Nothing in dash-camera video footage from the stop showed Slager had any
animus, or racial animus, toward Scott, said Savage, adding his client
had no way of knowing Scott was unarmed.
"How would he know he was unarmed?" Savage said. "He never had a chance
to pat him down."
(Reporting by Harriet McLeod; Writing by; Daniel Trotta; Editing by Lisa
Von Ahn)
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