A white police officer has been charged with murder on Tuesday in North Charleston, S.C. A video has emerged which showed that the officer had incessantly shot and killed an unarmed black man while he had been running away.
Officer Michael T. Slager, 33, that he had been fearful as the man had taken his stun gun after scuffling with him at a traffic stop on Saturday. The video on the other hand shows that the officer has shot the man, Walter L. Scott, 50, eight times while he was fleeing away. The state charges have been announced by the North Charleston mayor on Tuesday evening at a news conference.
There have been similar cases in New York, Cleveland, Ferguson, Mo. and other places and these death have cause a national debate whether police are too hasty to use force, especially when it comes to black men.
A White House task force suggested changes to be made in the nation’s police policies. President Barack Obama has sent Attorney General Eric. H. Holder Jr. to cities around the country to help improve the police relations with minority neighborhoods.
South Carolina’s third-largest city North Charleston has a population of about 100,000 people with about 47% of them being African-Americans and 37% of white population. According to the latest data collected by Justice Department in 2007, the police department has about 80% white officials.
Mayor Keith Summey said during the news conference, “When you’re wrong, you’re wrong. And if you make a bad decision, don’t care if you’re behind the shield or just a citizen on the street, you have to live by that decision.”
The shooting occurred after Officer Slagger stopped Scott driving with a broken taillight and after chasing him, Slagger tried to taser him but that did not stop Scott, according to police reports.
Shortly after the struggle, Officer Slagger reported on his radio “Shots fired and the subject is down. He took my Taser.”
On the contrary the video that had been captured by a bystander presents a very different story. In the video it showed that after being stun gunned by the Officer Slagger, in the middle of a tussle, Scott still managed to make a run.
It wasn’t clear if the stun gun was tossed on the ground, but moments later, when Scott was about 15 to 20 feet away and trying to escape, the officer started to shoot and at the last and eight shot, Scott fell to the ground.
The case is currently being investigated by a number of agencies, including a civil rights investigation by the FBI and the Justice Department.
The Supreme Court has held that an officer may use deadly force against a fleeing suspect only when there is probable cause that the suspect “poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.”
The pastor at WORD Ministries Christian Center, where Mr. Scott worshiped, minced no words, telling the crowd that Mr. Scott had died because he was black. The pastor, the Rev. George D. Hamilton, stressed that most law enforcement officers serve honorably, but he urged the members of South Carolina’s congressional delegation who attended the funeral to take up the issue of police killings in Washington so that African-Americans “don’t have to be scared every time they get pulled over.”
Mr. Hamilton said, “There is no doubt in my mind. I feel Walter’s death was motivated by racial prejudice.”
1 Comment
Come on — STOP GIVING AF. AMS. STUFF TO B*TCH ABOUT.
We are a nation of stupid white people with guns.