Officer charged with murder in black man's shooting
A white South Carolina police officer was charged with murder hours after law enforcement officials viewed a dramatic video that appears to show him shooting a fleeing black man several times in the back.
On Wednesday morning, 40 to 50 people gathered at North Charleston City Hall to protest the shooting death.
North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey announced the charges against patrolman Michael Thomas Slager at a hastily called news conference on Tuesday.
Saturday's shooting began when a vehicle was stopped for having a faulty brake light.
It comes as United States citizens grapple with issues of trust between law enforcement and minority communities following a series of deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police.
They include the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner on Staten Island, New York. Both sparked nationwide protests.
A video of the latest shooting released to the media shows the officer firing eight shots at Scott's back as Scott is running away.
Scott falls on the eighth shot, fired after a brief pause. The video then shows the officer walking slowly toward him, ordering him to put his hands behind his back.
When Scott doesn't move, Slager pulls his arms back and cuffs his hands. He then walks briskly back to where he fired the shots, picks up an object, and returns the 10 meters or so back to Scott before dropping the object by Scott's feet.
Slager's then-attorney David Aylor released a statement on Monday saying the officer felt threatened and that Scott was trying to grab Slager's stun gun. Aylor dropped Slager as a client after the video surfaced.
Attorney L. Chris Stewart, who traveled to North Charleston a day after the shooting to represent the family, said the video forced authorities to act quickly and decisively. He described the person who made it as a hero.
Slager was denied bond at a brief hearing on Tuesday. He was not accompanied by a lawyer. If convicted, he could face 30 years to life in prison.
