Winthrop University
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Rock Hill, South Carolina
Protesters peacefully took to the streets of Charleston, South Carolina, this weekend to honor Walter Scott, a black man who was shot last week five times in the back while running away from a Charleston police officer.
Jacob Hallex / The Johnsonian
Mourners call for change An officer is behind bars and a community is outraged after the death of Walter Scott Jacob Hallex hallexj@mytjnow It seems that once a week a new story breaks into the national spotlight involving the death of a black man at the hands of a white police officer. This week, that man was North Charlestonian Walter Scott and the officer was Patrolman 1st Class Michael Slager. On Sunday, April 4, Michael Slager pulled Walter Scott over for driving with a broken taillight. Slager approached the vehicle and gathered Scott’s license and registration. Scott exited his vehicle and fled on foot just 3 minutes after handing over his information to Slager. Slager pursued Scott and called into dispatch that he had a suspect fleeing into an
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empty lot. All of this was captured on Slager’s patrol vehicle dashboard video. It was approximately 1 minute later that he fired eight shots. What makes this story unique is that a bystander, Feidin Santana, captured the final moments of Scott’s life on video. That video shows Slager with his wrist on Scott’s arm, and reaching for something on his duty belt. While reaching back, Scott is able to break away from the officer and begins to flee. Slager draws his weapon, and fires eight shots toward a fleeing Scott. Five of those bullets struck Scott. What’s unknown are the events that transpired between Scott fleeing the view of the dashcam video and the first frames of the Santana video. In the initial police report Slager indicated that there was a fight over the officer’s Taser. The video evidence does show that Slager’s Taser was used as the Taser wires can be seen in the Santana video, implying that the Taser was discharged.
4see BLACK LIVES pg. 3
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