Just In: SC officer charged for shooting black man in the back.
Horrifying video popping up all over the news right now, and it doesn’t get any worse than this:
Vimeo
A police officer in North Charleston, S.C., has been charged with murder after shooting a man during a traffic stop, authorities said Tuesday.
The decision to charge the officer, coming after a tense year of protests and demonstrations over excessive police violence, was announced by the city’s mayor and chief of police at a news conference Tuesday afternoon. Authorities said the decision to charge Michael Slager, the officer, was made after they viewed video footage of the incident that showed him shooting the other man in the back as he was fleeing the scene.
The officer followed the usual playbook and claimed he felt threatened by the man running away.
He didn’t know he was being taped.
The casualness the officer displays as he wipes his mouth on his arm and suanters to the victim is utterly unnerving.