On April 4, 2015,
African American, Walter Scott was fatally shot in Charleston, South Carolina
by Charleston Police officer Michael Slager .The 33 year old policeman was
arrested and charged with murder shortly after a video from a cell phone was
released showing the officer shooting the unarmed Scott a total of eight times
when he was running away from Slager. South Carolina officials reported that if
Slager is convicted, he could face 30 years in prison or the death penalty.
The incident took
place on a Saturday at 9:30 am when Slager pulled Scott over for having a
broken taillight. Slager wrote in his police report that Scott tried to reach
for his Taser, however the video that was taken by a bystander shows Scott
being shot eight times running in the opposite direction of the police officer
in an empty parking lot. In the video, Scott is shown falling to the ground
after Slager fires his last shot from his gun and Slager slowly walks towards Scott
and put handcuffs on him. By the time the police tried to give Scott CPR, he
was announced dead. The video did not show any footage of Scott grabbing for
Slager’s Taser.
Walter Scott
L. Chris Stewart,
who is the attorney for the Scott Family, told reporters that Scott probably
try to run from the police because he had not made his child support payments
on time. Failure to pay child support on time, results in jail time in the
state of South Carolina until all payments are made. Although Scott should have
not run from the police, Slager had no right or justification for shooting
Scott. North Charleston Mayor, Keith Summey, said that Slager was charged for
murder based on the footage from the video. Mayor Summey also said in his
announcement of the incident, “not something that we like to hear or liker to say but it
goes to say how we work as a community: When you’re wrong, you’re wrong and if
you make a bad decision, don’t care if you are behind the shield or just
acitizen across the street, you have to live by that decision".
I strongly agree with what Mayor Summey said. It does not matter who you are, whether you are a normal citizen or a police officer. When you break the law, you will face the consequences.I am glad that justice is being served for the Scott family and that another cop is not getting away with murdering another innocent citizen. It is too bad that no one had video footage for the Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown cases.
I strongly agree with what Mayor Summey said. It does not matter who you are, whether you are a normal citizen or a police officer. When you break the law, you will face the consequences.I am glad that justice is being served for the Scott family and that another cop is not getting away with murdering another innocent citizen. It is too bad that no one had video footage for the Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown cases.
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