Dash Camera Video Shows Moments Before Deadly Charleston Shooting

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NORTH CHARLESTON, SC — New dash camera video shows the traffic stop that started the chain of events that ended with North Charleston Officer Michael Slager charged with murder.  It shows what happened before the officer killed unarmed Walter Scott.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division released the video late Thursday.  It starts with Officer Slager following Scott.  You can see them turn into a parking lot.  You see the officer approach the car, then return to his patrol car.  A short time later, Scott gets out of the car, the officer tells him to get back inside.  Moments later, Scott runs.  The video doesn’t show anything else as Scott runs out of frame.

Witness Gwen Nichols says she heard police cars speeding by, was curious, and followed them to that parking lot.  She says she saw Scott and the officer in a physical confrontation.

“Before what you saw on the videotape, there was like a little tussle, like at the end of that gate down there,” said Nichols.

“Were they on the ground, rolling?” asked WCCB Charlotte’s Brian Todd.

“No, it wasn’t on the ground rolling.  It was like a tussle type of thing, you know.  Like, ‘What do you want?  What did I do?’ type of thing.”

Slager claimed he used a Taser on Scott and that Scott tried to take his weapon.  Video from another witness shows what happened next: officer Slager fires eight shots, hitting Scott in the back five times.

The Mayor of North Charleston has ordered additional body cameras so every officer on the force will have one.