Routine exchange over taillight
Officer Michael T. Slager — since fired from the police force and charged with murder — had Scott pull into a parking lot and in the video is seen getting out of his cruiser and walking up to the Mercedes-Benz Scott is in. There is a passenger in the car who police have spoken to but whose name has not been released. The passenger was not involved in the events that transpired.
The officer tells Scott he pulled him over because of a faulty taillight and, in spite of music being audible from the police cruiser, the two are heard talking. The conversation is in no way heated as Scott explains that he does not have insurance because he is going to get it when he buys the car, which he does not yet own. That account is different from what was heard previously, with Scott’s family saying he owned the vehicle.
Slager takes Scott’s licence and goes back to his cruiser. After 20 or so seconds Scott opens the door to the vehicle and starts to get out. Slager calls out, telling him to get back in and he does so. The moment simply seems as if Scott had something extra to tell the officer.
More time passes and suddenly the door of the Mercedes opens and Scott bolts from the vehicle and runs off. Though we do not see him, Slager can be heard getting out of the cruiser and giving chase. He is heard yelling “Taser” three times and later — the audio is hard to pick up — heard to order Scott to get down on the ground.
Slager shoots Walter Scott
Moments later on grass the dashcam cannot see, the exchange captured on a cellphone video by passerby Feidin Santana happens as Scott again runs away, this time with what seem to be wires from the officer’s Taser attached to him. He is no more than 15 yards from the stationary officer when Slager fires eight shots at Scott, three hitting him in the back, one in the buttocks and one in the ear.
Shortly afterwards, Scott is dead.
Scott owed over $18,000 in back support for the care of his children and had a bench warrant issued against him, but it is not known if that is why he ran from the officer. In any case, a lawyer for the Scott family pointed out that running away does not warrant being shot in the back.
“This dash cam footage does not change the fact that at the moment the officer shot and killed Mr. Scott, that shooting was completely unjustified,” lawyer Justin Bamberg told media. “And that is the key point of both the criminal investigation and the civil lawsuit.”
Scott was black, Slager is white.
