A MAN WHO recorded the chilling video of a white police officer gunning down a black man said that the shooting followed a struggle in which the cop had gained control of the situation.
Peaceful protests were held in the evening, with demonstrators saying the quick arrest of the officer averted violent unrest of the kind that erupted in similar cases elsewhere in the US.
The now widely-distributed video of South Carolina officer Michael Slager shooting Walter Scott repeatedly in the back was recorded by 23-year-old Feidin Santana.
The video sparked public outcry and led to a murder charge against the policeman after it challenged the officer’s account of the shooting that took place in the coastal city of North Charleston.
Mayor Keith Summey announced that he’s ordering 150 more body cameras so that every uniformed officer on the street will wear one, a key demand of the Black Lives Matter movement that is growing nationwide. Police Chief Eddie Driggers said:
I have watched the video. And I was sickened by what I saw. And I have not watched it since.
The shooting is America’s latest high-profile police killing of a black man by white officers. A string of such shootings of unarmed victims, where officers are rarely charged, have sparked protests around the country with demonstrators alleging racism in the nation’s police forces.
“Before I started recording, they were down on the floor. I remember the police (officer) had control of the situation,” Santana said in an interview with NBC television about what he witnessed in the moments before filming started.
He had control of Scott. And Scott was trying just to get away from the Taser (stun gun).
“I knew right away, I had something on my hands,” he said about recording the video.
Slager was arrested and charged with murder after the video surfaced showing him shooting eight times at Scott, 50, while Scott was running away.
He was fired from the police force on Wednesday after being charged with murder.
Slager could face a sentence of up to life in prison or the death penalty.
Mayor Keith Summey announced the sacking at a highly-charged press conference frequently interrupted by residents angered over the killing.
Dozens of protesters gathered in front of City Hall throughout the day Wednesday and into the night.
Protesters observed a minute of silence while holding candles. One man wore a T-shirt with the slogan ‘driving while black is not a crime.’
“Tonight is a mixed emotion. Your heart aches for the family of Walter Scott, your soul is excited for the possibility of having justice,” said Bakari Sellers, 30, a black attorney and former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.
“Things in Charleston would have been worse than things in Ferguson had he not been arrested, if that video hadn’t been released,” said Michael Brown, 34, a black community organizer in North Charleston.
He was referring to the police shooting of an unarmed young man by the same name in Ferguson, Missouri last August. The officer was not charged.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say