South Carolina police officer charged

with murder after shooting man during

traffic stop

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Editor's note: This video contains graphic content. A police officer in North
Charleston, S.C., has been charged with murder after shooting a man
during a traffic stop. Authorities said the decision to charge officer Michael
Slager was made after they viewed video footage of the incident that
showed him shooting the other man in the back as he was fleeing the
scene. (Obtained by The Washington Post)
By Mark Berman, Wesley Lowery and Kimberly Kindy April 7 at 8:09 PM

A white police officer in North Charleston, S.C., was charged with murder Tuesday
after shooting and killing a black man following a routine traffic stop over the
weekend.
The decision to charge the officer, Michael Thomas Slager, came after graphic video
footage emerged depicting Slager firing a volley of bullets into the back of Walter Scott,
who was running away.

Officers rarely face criminal charges after shooting people, a fact that has played into
nationwide protests over the past year over how the police use deadly force. Yet this
case took a swift, unusual turn after a video shot by a bystander provided authorities
with a decisive narrative that differed from Slagers account.
It wasnt just based on the officers word anymore, said Chris Stewart, an attorney for
Scotts family. People were believing this story.
Authorities on Tuesday also pointed to the video as a turning point in this case and
apologized to the family for the shooting.

Samuel Scott holds a photograph of Walter Scott (R), his cousin. (Christina
Elmore/Post and Courier)
When youre wrong, youre wrong,
North Charleston Mayor R. Keith Summey said at a news conference. If you make a
bad decision, dont care if youre behind the shield you have to live with that
decision.

The Justice Department said Tuesday that the FBI would investigate the shooting
along with the departments Civil Rights division and the South Carolina U.S.
Attorneys Office.
The Department of Justice will take appropriate action in light of the evidence and
developments in the state case, the department said in a statement.
Summey and the citys chief of police
announced at a news conference that Slager, 33, would be charged and arrested.
Slager, who has been fired, was arrested by the South Carolina Law Enforcement
Division, the agency investigating the shooting, and booked into the Charleston County
jail shortly before 6 p.m. on Tuesday. He faces a possible death sentence or life in
prison.
Its been a tragic day for many, Eddie Driggers, the police chief, said at the news
conference. A tragic day for many.
[How the shooting reignites the debate over body cameras]
The shooting began with a routine traffic stop after 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.
After Slager stopped a vehicle, he began chasing Walter Scott, 50, and fired his Taser,
according to the incident report and city officials.
Footage of the shooting, first obtained by the New York Times and the Post and
Courier newspaper, showed Scott fleeing from Slager across a tree-lined patch of grass.
Slager fires a series of shots at Scott, who appears to be unarmed, striking Scott
multiple times in the back, according to an affidavit filed Tuesday evening.
Slager told the dispatcher, Shots fired and the subject is down, he took my Taser,
according to the portion of the report filled out by another officer who relayed what he
heard.

The video shows Slager picking up an item

and placing it near Scott, though it is unclear
if this is the Taser or something else. Police
later said that Scott was hit with the Taser at
least once, because part of it was still
attached to him when other officers arrived
on the scene. But city officials said that Scott
was clearly too far away to use a Taser if he
did have it.

Michael Thomas Slager (Charleston

County Sheriffs Office)

I can tell you that as a result of that video and the bad decision made by our officer, he
will be charged with murder, Summey said at the news conference.
[South Carolina cop now faces felony charge for fatally shooting a black man in his
driveway]

After Slager shot Scott, the officer handcuffed the mans hands behind his back and he
remained there. The police report says that several officers gave Scott first aid, but it
does not state how long it took them to administer that aid.
This shooting comes after incidents in Ferguson, Mo., and New York, among other
places, have drawn heavy scrutiny over confrontations that ended with black men
dead. The unrest has continued into this year, as a shooting in Madison, Wis., was
followed by lengthy protests.
[How many police shootings a year? No one knows.]
North Charleston, the third-largest city in the state, has a different demographic
breakdown than the rest of South Carolina. Two-thirds of South Carolina residents are
white, while North Charleston has more black residents (47 percent) than white

residents (41 percent), according to the U.S. Census.

But the citys police force does not reflect that breakdown, as four out of five North
Charleston officers last year were white, according to the Post and Courier. The citys
police department announced in February that it would obtain 115 body cameras for its
officers after obtaining $275,000 in state funding.
Authorities stressed that the episode in South Carolina was not indicative of the citys
entire police force of 342 remaining officers, instead calling this a singular bad
decision made by one officer.
I think all of these police officers, men and women, are like my children, Driggers
said. So you tell me how a father would react Ill let you answer that.
[Current law gives police wide latitude to use deadly force]
Scotts family praised the decision to charge Slager with the shooting and was
grateful someone came forward with the video footage, an attorney said.

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L. Chris Stewart, a lawyer for the family of Walter Scott, said they were

aware of officer Michael Slagers arrest and questioned what would have
happened if a witness to Scotts shooting had not come forward. (Reuters)
They were sad, Stewart, the family attorney, said in a telephone interview Tuesday
evening from Scotts mothers home. There is nothing that can bring their son and
brother back, but they are relieved that charges were filed.
Scotts family members had gathered at the home on Tuesday evening, including
Scotts four children and three brothers. His family and attorneys held a brief news
conference Tuesday night, saying that they planned to file a lawsuit against the city and
police department.
All we wanted was the truth, and through the process weve received the truth, said
Anthony Scott, Walters brother. I dont think that all police officers are bad cops, but
there are some bad ones out there.

Object 3

North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey says a white South Carolina police
officer will be charged with murder over the shooting death of a black man.
This comes after a video surfaced which appears to show the man fleeing
from the officer. (Reuters)
Slager was initially represented by David Aylor, a local attorney, who in a statement
provided to local media soon after the shooting said: I believe once the community

hears all the facts of this shooting, theyll have a better understanding of the
circumstances surrounding this investigation.
But on Tuesday, shortly before Slagers arrest was announced, Aylor told The Post that
he is no longer representing the officer.
I dont have any involvement in that case moving forward, he said. No
involvement.
[Why South Carolina indicted three other white officers in four months.]

This was the 11th time an officer has shot someone in South Carolina so far this year,
according to Thom Berry, a spokesman for the state Law Enforcement Division. Berry
said that the investigation into this shooting is still very much in progress, so he
declined to comment on details of how the agency obtained the video footage.

South Carolina
police officer Michael Thomas Slager was denied bond at a first appearance
hearing after the release of a video that shows him firing several shots and
killing a black man following a traffic stop. (AP)
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Although officers fatally shoot and kill hundreds of people each year, only a handful of
cases result in the officer facing criminal charges. Video recordings of the fatal
encounters are becoming pivotal factors in whether prosecutors and grand jurors bring
charges, experts said.
Video has changed everything because it provides documentation that was never
available before, said Philip M. Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State
University. Now, everyday citizens, when they recognize there is a dispute, they start
recording video with their smart phones.
However, these recordings do not always result in officers being charged. Footage of a
New York City police officer placing Eric Garner in a chokehold last summer provoked
widespread outrage, but the grand jurydecided not to indict the officer. That decision,
like that of the Missouri grand jury that did not indict the white police officer who shot
an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, sparked a national wave of protests aimed at
the way African American men are treated by police.
Officials and activists in South Carolina said they were asking the community to keep
calm in the wake of the videos release and the decision to seek murder charges against
him.
We want to ask the community to remain calm, Elder Johnson of National Action
Network said Tuesday.
Watch the full video here. (Warning: Graphic content.)
Alice Crites contributed to this report.

Mark Berman is a reporter on the National staff. He runs Post

Nation, a destination for breaking news and developing stories
from around the country.

Wesley Lowery is a national reporter covering law

enforcement and justice for the Washington Post. He previously covered
Congress and national politics.

Kimberly Kindy is a government accountability reporter at The Washington

Post.
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