(Screenshot from the video of the April 4th incident showing Slager shooting Walter Scott as he was running away)
Former South Carolina police officer Michael Slager was indicted June 8 in the killing of unarmed Black man Walter Scott.
Video of the April 4 incident appears to show Slager shooting Scott as he was running away, another in a string of White officers killing unarmed Black males. At the time of the shooting, Slager was charged with murder by state law enforcement agents and fired from the police force.
A Charleston County grand jury found enough evidence to move forward with a murder case against Slager.
Scott’s brother Anthony Scott told NBC that the indictment is “a good victory, but his family would only feel justice has been served if they hear murder charge one, guilty” in the upcoming trial. A trial date has not been set.
Walter Scott (left), and former SC police officer Michael Slager (right).
Slager initially pulled Scott over for a broken taillight. Scott’s family said they believe that Scott may have run away from Slager because Scott had not been meeting his child support obligations and could have been subject to arrest, according to The New York Times.
“The grand jury is a formal step, but just another step in the criminal process,” Slager’s attorney Andrew J. Savage, III, said in a statement. “Until we have an opportunity to fully evaluate the State’s case and to compare it with our own investigation we will not be commenting on any aspect of the case.”
According to the Times, Slager was involved in 19 use-of-force encounters, using his taser gun 14 of those times. The only time he used his firearm was in the death of Scott.