The white
officer who shot black man Walter Scott in the back as he was running away has
been fired, mayor announces - adding that now all officers will wear bodycams
The Guardian, Amanda Holpuch in North Charleston, Oliver Laughland in New York and agencies, Wednesday 8 April 2015
South
Carolina police officer, Michael Slager, appears to shoot a 50-year-old black
man, Walter Scott, in the back at least eight times as he runs away. Watch thevideo
The white police officer who fatally shot 50-year-old black man Walter Scott has been fired by the North Charleston police department, city officials confirmed on Wednesday.
Mayor Keith
Summey said that officer Michael Slager, 33, had had his contract terminated,
though the city will continue to cover his insurance until his wife, who is
eight months pregnant, gives birth to their baby.
Slager, who
has been charged with murder, shot at Scott while he was running away from the
officer. Video of the incident became public on Tuesday, though there is also
at least one dashcam video of the incident, the mayor said. “There’s the car
video ... what I understand, the video that I saw was not all of the video that
exists,” he said.
Summey said
that the city had received a grant to order 101 body cameras and that he had
ordered an additional 150 cameras that officers would be trained to use.
He, his
wife and police chief Eddie Driggers met with Scott’s family on Wednesday
morning. “A wonderful, down to earth family, a wonderful group of people,” he
said.
“I have
watched the video, and I was sickened by what I saw,” said Driggers.
Both men
deflected most of the questions and directed people to the state law
enforcement division (SLED), which is investigating the incident. “There are
questions that I have in my mind, that I can’t answer right now,” said
Driggers.
The press
conference was frequently interrupted by demonstrators chanting things
including: “We want Driggers,” and: “The mayor has got to go.”
Summey said
that the city was looking at how the police department could have a closer
relationship with the community. “We’ll be having some good open dialogue in
the next 30 days,” he said, and invited anyone interested in joining to contact
his office.
He said
that the city would also investigate previous incidents involving Slager, if
the public or media requested it.
He also
confirmed that it was department policy to handcuff a dead body, as Slager can
be seen doing in the video of Scott’s death.
Summey said
Driggers was not allowed to answer questions about the investigation because it
is being investigated by SLED. The police chief was allowed to speak briefly
about his discussions with Scott’s family.
“I have
been praying for peace,” said Driggers. “Peace for the family and peace for
this community and I will continue to stand on that as I continue to protect
and serve”
Protests
continued outside city hall after the press conference on Wednesday.
Demonstrators had gathered there around 9.30am and continued through the day,
with a brief recess before the press conference.
Activist
Muhiyidin d’Baha walked into the conference room chanting into a megaphone.
“What would
you do if a camera wasn’t there?” he asked, echoing concerns in the community
that there would not have been furor over the killing without such stark proof
that Scott was fleeing.
The mayor’s
explanations were repeatedly interrupted by shouts of “No justice, no peace!”
and other questions that he said he couldn’t answer.
Protests
began within hours of the murder charge against Slager, which was announced on
Tuesday, the same day the video was released to the media. About 75 people gathered outside city Hall in North Charleston, led by Black Lives Matter, a
group formed after the fatal shooting of another black man in Ferguson,
Missouri.
“Eight
shots in the back!” local organizer D’Baha hollered through a bullhorn, and the
crowd yelled “In the back!” in response.
The video
recorded by an unidentified bystander shows North Charleston patrolman Michael
Thomas Slager dropping his stun gun, pulling out his handgun and firing at
Walter Lamer Scott from a distance as he runs away. The 50-year-old man falls
after the eighth shot, fired after a brief pause.
The dead
man’s father, Walter Scott Sr, said on Wednesday that the officer “looked like
he was trying to kill a deer running through the woods”. He also told NBC’s
Today show that his son may have tried to flee because he owed child support
and didn’t want to go back to jail.
The video
is “the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen,” said Judy Scott, the slain man’s
mother, on ABC’s Good Morning America.
“I almost
couldn’t look at it to see my son running defenselessly, being shot. It just
tore my heart to pieces,” she said.
The
bystander is assisting investigators after providing the video to Scott’s
family and lawyers.
Police
initially released a statement that promised a full investigation but relied
largely on the officer’s description of the confrontation, which began with a
traffic stop Saturday as Slager pulled Scott over for a faulty brake light.
Slager’s
then-attorney David Aylor released another statement Monday saying the officer
felt threatened and fired because Scott was trying to grab his stun gun.
Aylor
dropped Slager as a client after the video surfaced, and the officer, a
five-year veteran with the North Charleston police, appeared without a lawyer
at his first appearance Tuesday. He was denied bond and could face 30 years to
life in prison if convicted of murder.
The South
Carolina Law Enforcement Officers’ Association [SCLEOA] confirmed that Slager
had been a member of the organisation, which provides legal representation to its affiliates.
But a
spokesman told the Guardian that Slager would not be provided any assistance as
his case “does not meet the SCLEOA criteria of a meritorious defense case”.
In a
statement the SCLEOA said: “It is a sad for us when a police officer makes what
appears to be a very bad decision that resulted in unnecessary death. Working
with the community and elected officials we can overcome this tragedy. The
swift decision to charge the officer demonstrates that law enforcement will not
tolerate the tarnishing of the badge and oaths we all take so seriously.”
Slager had
initially hired an attorney in North Charleston, David Aylor, who later said he
had dropped the case.
The shooting
comes amid a plunge in trust between law enforcement and minorities after the
officer-involved killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric
Garner on Staten Island, New York. Nationwide protests intensified after grand
juries declined to indict the officers in both cases.
“We have to
take a stand on stuff like this ... we can’t just shake our heads at our
computer screens,” said Lance Braye, 23, who helped organize Wednesday’s
demonstration.
Scott’s
family and their attorney, L Chris Stewart, appealed to keep the protests peaceful, saying the swift murder charge shows that the justice system is
working so far in this case.
But Stewart
said the video alone forced authorities to act decisively.
“What if
there was no video? What if there was no witness, or hero as I call him, to
come forward?” asked Stewart, adding that the family plans to sue the police.
The video,
shot over a chain link fence and through some trees, begins after Scott has
left his car. Slager follows him, reaching at the man with an object that
appears to be a stun gun. As Scott pulls away, the object falls to the ground
and Slager pulls out his handgun as Scott runs away.
The final
shot sends Scott falling face-down about 30 feet away. Slager then slowly walks
toward him and orders Scott to put his hands behind his back, but the man
doesn’t move, so he pulls Scott’s arms back and cuffs his hands. The officer
then walks briskly back to where he fired the shots, speaking into his radio.
He picks up the same object that fell to the ground before and returns to
Scott’s prone body, dropping the object near Scott’s feet as another officer
enters the scene.
Scott had
four children, was engaged and had been honorably discharged from the US
coastguard. There were no violent offenses on his record, Stewart said. He also
speculated that Scott may have tried to run because he owed child support,
which can lead to jail time in South Carolina until it is paid.
The FBI and
the justice department’s civil rights division are investigating as well.
Proving that an officer willfully deprived an individual of his or her civil
rights has historically been a tough burden for federal prosecutors,
particularly when an officer uses force during a rapidly unfolding physical
confrontation in which split-second decisions are made.
The justice
department spent months investigating the Ferguson shooting before declining to
prosecute Officer Darren Wilson in that case. But it’s easier to make cases
against officers who use force as an act of retribution or who can make no
reasonable claim that their life was in jeopardy when they took action.
North
Charleston is South Carolina’s third-largest city, and its population is about
half black. Its economy slumped after the Charleston Naval Base on the city’s
waterfront closed in the mid-1990s, but the city has bounced back with a huge
investment by Boeing, which now employs about 7,500 people in the state and
builds 787 aircraft in city.
Braye
accused North Charleston police of habitually harass blacks for minor offenses.
He hopes the video will help people understand that some officers will lie to
save themselves when they do wrong.
“This needs
to be the last case,” Braye said. “All you have to do is look at the story that
was told before the video came out.”
 |
North
Charleston Mayor R. Keith Summey (C) and Police Chief Eddie
Driggers (L) speak
during a press conference at City Hall in Charleston,
South Carolina on April
8, 2015 (AFP Photo/Jim Watson)
|
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