Police in South Carolina have released new video footage showing officer Michael Slager before the shooting of Walter Scott. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division released the video.
Slager was charged with murder for shooting Scott in the back. The new footage was taken from the police cruiser’s dashboard camera.
The video footage shows when Slager pulled over Scott, but not the actual shooting itself.
Scott is seen running out of the driver’s seat of the car before the shooting takes place.
This is what got #WalterScott killed. So sad. pic.twitter.com/XNRAOjva1Y
— Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) April 9, 2015
Meanwhile, an official from the Charleston, South Carolina, branch of the NAACP says he is not surprised by the police response to a prior allegation of excessive force against the white officer who shot a black man in the back as he fled after a traffic stop.
The complaint against Slager involved Mario Givens, another black man. Givens says the officer came to his house in September 2013, pushed in the door, and hit him in the stomach with a stun gun. Givens says he was unarmed, and he filed a complaint. Slager remained on the force.
The Rev. Joseph Darby, vice president of the Charleston branch of the NAACP, says that the group has seen similar complaints throughout the years, but that they are usually taken lightly and seemed to be dismissed without much investigation.
Darby says that if the North Charleston department had done a full investigation into the 2013 incident, maybe Saturday’s shooting of Scott would have turned out differently.
Slager is charged with murder and has been fired.
The North Charleston Police Department says it will now review the complaint involving Givens again.
With AP.
