The latest hi-profile killing of a black man by a white policeman in the US has sent shock waves throughout the country. A video that surfaced days after the shooting overturns the officer’s claim that he opened fire in self-defense.
After a public outcry, South Carolina officer Michael Slager was fired, and murder charges brought against him for shooting down Walter Scott.
Feidin Santana, the witness who handed over the video to Scott’s family told NBC News that while walking to work Saturday morning, he saw officer Slager controlling Scott on the ground, and began recording when he heard the sound of a taser.
“Mr. Scott was trying just to get away from the taser,” said Santana. “He was just looking for a way to get away from the police.”
Meanwhile, demonstrations blame the nation’s entire police force for blatant racism. Protesters carried signs that read ‘Stop racist police terror,’ and ‘No justice, no peace,’ after the recent video emerged.
The footage shows the white policeman fire eight times at the black man who can be seen running away before he falls to the ground.
Scott was hit by five bullets — three times on the back, once on the upper buttocks and once in the ear, said family lawyer Chris Stewart, quoting the coroner who examined Scott’s body, according to the Times.
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, reports Reuters.
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