Posted April 7, 2015 9:25 PM ET; Last updated April 8, 2015 9:01 PM ET
A still image shows the shooting Saturday.
(PROVIDED)
[From article] A white police officer who gunned down a fleeing, unarmed black man appeared to plant his service-issue Taser gun at the side of the victim's lifeless body, according to shocking videotape which emerged in the wake of the senseless killing.
Killing: Walter Scott, was killed by South Carolina Policeman Michael Slager. Scott was in the Coast Guard for two years, and is pictured in uniform. Slager is being held in jail on murder charges.
Patrolman Michael Slager, 33, opened fire on father-of-four Walter Scott, 50, in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Saturday morning after reportedly stopping him over a broken tail light.
Slager was charged with murder on Tuesday and could face the death penalty after the incendiary footage emerged. The officer had previously defended his actions, saying he feared for his life after Scott wrestled his Taser gun from him during a scuffle.
However, cellphone footage from the scene showed Scott getting around 15-20 feet away before Slager opened fire with seven shots in quick succession followed by an eighth. The 50-year-old U.S. Coast Guard veteran was hit five times.
The officer then slowly walked toward him and ordered Scott to put his hands behind his back, but the man didn't move.
Slager then handcuffed his lifeless body before jogging back to where he had fired the shots to pick up an object from the ground - possibly the Taser.
The officer then returned to Scott where a second officer was on the scene. Slager can be seen on video tape appearing to drop an object next to the victim's body.
The footage also contradicted police claims that officers performed CPR on the suspect.
[. . .]
According to the Post and Courier, Scott had a warrant out for his arrest from family court at the time of his death.
He has been arrested around ten times, mostly for contempt of court charges for failing to pay child support, included one accusation of a violation stemming from an assault and battery charge in 1987, the paper reported.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3029597/Cop-charged-black-man-s-murder-opening-fire-eight-times-shooting-ran-away-saying-did-felt-threatened.html
How white South Carolina cop 'tried to plant a taser' next to the lifeless body of unarmed black man he'd shot FIVE times in the back and then claimed victim had stolen it off him
Patrolman Michael Slager, 33, opened fire on father-of-four Walter Scott, 50, in South Carolina, on Saturday after reportedly stopping him over a broken tail light
Incendiary video released after the shooting showed Scott, a coast guard veteran, falling face-down on ground after eight shots were fired at his back
Slager, 33, said in police report he 'feared for his life' after Scott wrestled Taser from him - but the video shows Slager 'picking up Taser and placing it next to Scott's body after the shooting'
Scott family attorney said: 'This was a cop who felt like he could get away with just shooting anybody that many times in the back. He just casually shot a man that many times in the back'
Protests were taking place at North Charleston City Hall on Wednesday morning as local leaders appealed for calm
By KIERAN CORCORAN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and SIMON TOMLINSON FOR MAILONLINE and LOUISE BOYLE FOR DAILY MAIL ONLINE
PUBLISHED: 18:14 EST, 7 April 2015 | UPDATED: 12:48 EST, 8 April 2015
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[Raw footage of shooting embedded]
[From article]
A North Charleston police officer was arrested on a murder charge Tuesday after video surfaced of the lawman shooting eight times at 50-year-old Walter Scott as he ran away.
Scott died after Patrolman 1st Class Michael Slager, 33, shot Scott in the back.
Police Chief Eddie Driggers said Tuesday that Slager had been arrested. SLED spokesman Thom Berry confirmed that the officer had been book into Charleston County’s jail on a murder charge.
[. . .]
The footage, filmed by an anonymous bystander, shows the end of the confrontation between the two on Saturday after Scott, who had a warrant out for his arrest, ran from a traffic stop. It was the first piece of evidence that could contradict a statement that Slager released to the public through his attorney.
[. . .]
The development in Scott’s death also came on the same day when SLED arrested a North Augusta police officer in the Feb. 9, 2014, shooting death of Ernest Satterwhite. The officer, 25-year-old Justin Gregory Craven, faces a count of discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, a felony charge punishable with up to 10 years in prison.
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150407/PC16/150409468
North Charleston officer faces murder charge after video shows him shooting man in back
Andrew Knapp
Apr 7 2015 4:19 pm Apr 7 6:03 pm
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