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North Charleston Residents Express Disgust, but Not Surprise, at Police Shooting - New York Times




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Victim’s Brother Speaks About Shooting



Victim’s Brother Speaks About Shooting



Anthony Scott, whose brother Walter L. Scott was killed by a police officer in North Charleston, S.C., on Saturday, talked about the shooting in an interview with The Associated Press.


By Associated Press on April 8, 2015. Photo by Chuck Burton/Associated Press.


NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — It was at a vigil Sunday for his slain brother that Anthony Scott found out what he had believed was true all along.


First came the unfathomable news that his younger brother, Walter, had been shot to death by a police officer after being stopped in the early ’90s-era Mercedes he had bought just a few days before. Then came the growing doubts about the initial police story that his brother had endangered the officer. Then came the video.


It was delivered by a stranger who approached after family and friends placed flowers and said their prayers at the spot where Walter had died.


“I have something to share with you,” he said. They got into Anthony Scott’s car. Then the stranger showed him the video on his phone. “I knew it! I knew it!” Mr. Scott exclaimed, and what might have been another shooting of an obscure black man by the police suddenly became an astonishing glimpse of life and death, black and white, police and civilian.



In the video, a white police officer, Michael T. Slager, was seen shooting and killing Walter L. Scott, 50, as Mr. Scott ran away on Saturday after a traffic stop for a broken taillight. The authorities brought murder charges against Officer Slager on Tuesday, the same day the video was released to the public. And on Wednesday, the city said the officer had been fired, though he will continue to receive health benefits for his pregnant wife until the child is born.




Anthony Scott, left, whose brother Walter was killed by the police, at his home near North Charleston, S.C., on Wednesday. Chuck Burton/Associated Press

The city’s swift response — which included voluntarily, and almost immediately, turning the investigation of the shooting over to a state agency — underscored not just the power of the video. It also showed the impact of intensified public scrutiny of police violence after police killings of unarmed blacks in Ferguson, Mo., Staten Island, N.Y., and Cleveland.


“I have watched the video, and I was sickened by what I saw,” Eddie Driggers, the North Charleston police chief, told reporters Wednesday at an emotional and often chaotic news conference that protesters repeatedly interrupted. Asked whether the proper protocols had been followed, Chief Driggers said, “Obviously not.”


At the news conference, at North Charleston’s City Hall, there were pointed questions about when, and if, first aid had been provided to the victim, and if Officer Slager’s version of events had ever been in doubt before the video emerged. “There are questions that I have in my mind that I can’t answer right now,” Chief Driggers said. He and Mayor R. Keith Summey said they were limited in what they could discuss as a state investigation continued.


Chief Driggers said all of the department’s police officers would soon be required to wear body cameras. City officials said the department — which, according to a 2007 survey, was 80 percent white, though the city is 47 percent black — had sought to recruit more black officers but had struggled to find candidates.




Barbara Scott, a cousin of Mr. Scott, placed flowers at the site of his death on Wednesday. Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times

Unlike officials in Ferguson, who were criticized for taking a pro-police stance immediately after Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot to death by a white officer in August, officials in North Charleston have sought to calm tensions; offered condolences to the victim’s family; made no attempt to publicly defend the officer; and said they handed the investigation over to the state, though they were not obligated to do so, to ensure an impartial and independent inquiry. The department will also provide a police escort for Mr. Scott’s funeral on Saturday.


“That’s the right thing to do,” Chief Driggers said of handing the investigation to the state.



It is not clear how the case might have unfolded without the video.


In an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, the man who videotaped the shooting, Feidin Santana, said he had seen Officer Slager and Mr. Scott struggling on the ground before the shooting began. “I remember the police had control of the situation,” Mr. Santana said. “He had control of Scott, and Scott was trying just to get away from the Taser.” Mr. Santana, who offered the video to Mr. Scott’s family, said the decision to charge Mr. Slager with murder was “something no one can feel happy about.”




Eddie Driggers of the North Charleston Police said he was sickened by a video of the killing. Richard Ellis/Getty Images

But, Mr. Santana said of Mr. Slager, “He made a bad decision,” and “you pay for your decisions in this life.”


Officer Slager stopped the driver of a Mercedes-Benz for a broken taillight, according to police reports. As soon as the officer stopped the car, the reports say, Mr. Scott fled and Officer Slager chased him into a grassy lot that abuts an auto shop. The officer fired his Taser, a stun gun, but it did not stop Mr. Scott, according to police reports. In the reports and in news coverage, Officer Slager said he felt threatened and fired when the driver he had stopped tried to overpower him and take his Taser.


But Anthony Scott, the eldest of three brothers and two years older than Walter, said he never believed that. He described his brother as a “friendly, loving father who got along with everyone,” adding that he sang, played drums and participated in community theater.


When Mr. Scott, who had a long arrest record, mostly for failing to pay child support or show up for court hearings, was pulled over for the traffic violation, he called his mother to let her know. “I guess he did that because of the outstanding child support warrant,” Anthony Scott said. “He probably thought he was getting arrested.”




A protest at City Hall. Richard Ellis/Getty Images

The mother sent her grandson, Walter’s nephew, to check it out. The nephew was on his way to choir practice, and the location was just down the street from his church. The nephew called the family to let them know “something didn’t look right.”


When Anthony Scott arrived at about 11:30 a.m., he found out that emergency medical personnel had been there and left, which he knew was a bad sign. He held out hope that Walter had been taken away in a police cruiser.


He soon learned that was not what had occurred.


“I saw the chaplain,” he said, “and I thought, ‘This is not happening.’ ”






Fatal Police Shootings: Accounts Since Ferguson


At that point, people in the area were saying that the police version of events was that Mr. Scott had grabbed the officer’s Taser and there had been a struggle. Anthony Scott did not believe it for a second.


He thinks his brother, who was employed as a forklift operator, ran the first time from the police because of the warrant, and ran again because he had been hit by the Taser.


But it turned out that the information that mattered most was on the phone of the stranger.


Mr. Scott and Mr. Santana made a gentleman’s agreement after viewing the video on Sunday. They would wait another day to see if there was any need to release it: If the police stuck to the struggling-for-the-Taser story, then Mr. Santana would give the video to the family, despite his trepidation that the officer would come after him.




Shanalea Forrest sat with her son, Ezahn Mahamed, 7, during a candlelight vigil honoring Mr. Scott on Wednesday at City Hall in North Charleston. Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times

“I had to hold my breath and let him go,” Mr. Scott said.


By Sunday night, the family had made contact with an Atlanta lawyer who was experienced in cases involving police misconduct. The lawyer, L. Chris Stewart, got in his car and drove five hours to Charleston, arriving after 2 a.m.


On Monday, the statements from the Police Department had not changed. “It was obvious that we didn’t even have to ask him for it,” Mr. Scott said. “He was still hesitant, but he gave it to us.”


Mr. Stewart gave the video to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which had taken over the investigation. He said he was still in awe of what Mr. Santana had done, saying “he feared for his life.”


“I knew this family would never get justice, and this guy just hands us justice,” Mr. Stewart said. “He handed us justice.”


Mr. Stewart said that without the video, the authorities would not have moved as quickly to charge the officer. But he also said there were so many signs that it was a problematic shooting that even without the video, the officer would most likely have faced immense scrutiny. “One thing they couldn’t deny or get around was that they had a victim with five holes in his back,” Mr. Stewart said.


Not long after the video was released, Officer Slager’s lawyer, David Aylor, quit. He did not respond to a message seeking comment.


In an email on Wednesday, the officer’s new lawyer, Andrew J. Savage III, said the defense team had begun its own investigation of the shooting. “As we focus in on the facts, we will probably have more to say, but it is far too early for us to be saying what we think,” Mr. Savage said. “Slager’s previous counsel fell into that trap, and we have no intention of doing our client further harm.”


Thom Berry, the spokesman for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which is investigating the shooting, said the agency was conducting interviews and a battery of forensic exams. Mr. Slager was interviewed by detectives Tuesday afternoon.


“We have a very active and ongoing investigation,” Mr. Berry said. “We have interviewed and are continuing to conduct interviews, not only with Michael Slager. We have also interviewed other law enforcement officers and anyone else who may have information. We are still in process of gathering information from as many sources as we can.”




Reporting was contributed by Ben Rothenberg from North Charleston, Marc Santora from New York, Manny Fernandez from Houston, and Matt Apuzzo and Michael S. Schmidt from Washington. Susan C. Beachy contributed research from New York, and Kitty Bennett from St. Petersburg, Fla.



A version of this article appears in print on April 9, 2015, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: A Stark Image of a Shooting Carries Impact.











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