Two and a half years after millions saw a cellphone video of
Michael Slager gunning down Walter Scott, the 20-year prison sentence imposed will be etched into history as one of the most significant for
an American police officer involved in a fatal shooting, reported the Post and Courier.
Slager was patrolling one of North Charleston’s most
hardened communities on April 4, 2015 when he stopped Scott’s car for a broken
brake light. The police had long used minor traffic stops to check on residents
and look for greater crimes afoot.
This stop was ordinary until Scott, 50, jumped out and ran.
Slager gave chase and tried to stop him with a Taser.
But the officer said Scott fought him and grabbed the stun
gun, turning the weapon against him. As they rose from the ground, Slager
said he feared what Scott might do. He pulled his pistol and fired.
But bystander Feidin Santana’s video showed the Taser
bouncing behind the officer, though it offered no clear view of who had been
holding it. Scott is running away at the first gunshot and is still running at
the eighth, which brought him down. Five of the bullets had hit him from
behind.
Officers are rarely arrested in shootings, a product of how
much leeway the law gives them in justifying deadly force. Even more seldom are
they convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms, which was apparent when
Slager's state murder trial last year ended with a hung jury.
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