Walter Scott Shooting: Judge Declines to Decide Whether Ex-South Carolina Cop Michael Slager Should Make Bond
A South Carolina circuit judge declined to grant or deny bond on Thursday for Michael Slager, a former North Charleston police officer who has been jailed for fatally shooting an unarmed black man in the back in April.
Video footage of the April 4 shooting shows that 50-year-old Walter Lamar Scott was running away when the 33-year-old ex-cop opened fire eight times, fatally striking him in the back. The incident occurred after Slager pulled Scott over during a traffic stop in North Charleston. Raw video from the cop's dash cam shows that Scott ran away on foot while Slager was looking up his information, reports CNN.
After chasing Scott down, Slager stated in a police report that Scott tried to take his stun gun during a struggle. However, witness Feidin Santana, who recorded the video of the shooting, says that Scott did not try to grab the officer's Taser, and that Scott was trying to get away.
Lawyers representing Slager petitioned state Circuit Judge Clifton Newman to free their client on bond. However, Judge Newman said that he needs more time to decide whether Slager should be granted bond or not. He added that he had a lot of information to consider and does not want to rush the decision, reports NBC affiliate station WCBD.
In a jailhouse interview with NBC released on Wednesday, Slager said that the infamous video of the incident only shows a fraction of the encounter and does not show the events leading up to the shooting.
"Just that three seconds of the video came out. And everybody thought I was racist and I just got out of my car and just shot him in the back for no reason," Slager said in a Skype interview from jail.
"That's what makes me upset, is that nobody knows what actually happened," he added.
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