GRAPHIC VIDEO: SC Officer Charged With Murder

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WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC — A white police officer is charged with murder for shooting and killing an unarmed black man in the back during a traffic stop.

The State Law Enforcement Division filed the charges Tuesday against North Charleston Officer Michael Slager after seeing cell phone video of the shooting.  The officer fired eight shots, hitting Walter Scott in the back as he ran away Saturday morning.  

It happened after a traffic stop over a broken tail light.  Officer Slager says he feared for his life and that Scott overpowered him.  Investigators say Slager radioed to police saying, “He took my Taser.”  The North Charleston Mayor says the officer made a bad decision.

“When you’re wrong, you’re wrong,” said Mayor Keith Summey.  “And if you make a bad decision, I don’t care if you’re behind the shield, or just a citizen on the street, you have to live by that decision.”

Scott’s family is asking the public to stay calm.  Officer Slager faces life in prison or death if he’s convicted.  SLED, the FBI and the Justice Department are all investigating the shooting.  This is the 11th time this year that an officer has shot someone in South Carolina.