INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

North Charleston Protests Walter Scott Shooting

By Tara Dodrill
Published on: 05:07 PST, Apr 8, 2015

North Charleston Protests over the Walter Scott shooting were slated to begin on Wednesday. Groups angry that South Carolina police officer Michael Slager, a white police officer, shot an unarmed black man were scheduled to being at the North Charleston City Hall.

Walter Scott, 50, was shot after a routine traffic stop for a busted taillight on Saturday. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Michael Slager initially claimed that Scott behaved in a threatening manner and wrestled his taser away during an altercation. A video of the fatal North Charleston police shooting revealed that Walter Scott was shot eight times while running away from Slager. Scott was allegedly behind on child support payments for his four children and was believed to be concerned about getting arrested.

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Walter Scott protests begin. North Charleston artist Phillip Hyman made this display after the fatal police shooting by Michael Slager.

North Charleston artist Phillip Hyman made an angel wearing a hoodie and positioned it near the site of the Walter Scott shooting on Monday. Hyman maintains that a business owner asked him to remove the display. Before removing the angel with a hoodie memorial for Scott, Hyman took a photo, which is now being used on the North Charleston protests Facebook page.”It’s been my life to express myself this way, and these things bother me. So that’s how I get them out of my system, is I do a painting and go take a picture outside at the street that it happened,” Phillip Hyman added.

An affidavit pertaining to the Walter Scott shooting by Michael Slager explained the incident.

“On April 4, 2015, the defendant Michael Thomas Slager, while in the area of Craig Road within the city of North Charleston, County of Charleston, SC, knowingly and unlawfully with malice aforethought did kill the victim, Walter Lamer Scott. To wit: the Defendant did shoot the victim multiple times in the back after an altercation. All this is true based upon video evidence and the investigation of the State Law Enforcement Division.”

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Black Lives Matter-Charleston representative Brandon Fish had this to say about the Walter Scott shooting and the North Charleston protests, “I think that this is just another example of a problem that we have in our community, and we need to take a hard look at the way police officers are hired and advanced and deployed and disciplined, and also the systems of accountability in general.” Scott’s mother, Judy Scott, said she is grateful that murder charges have been filed against Michael Slager.

“We need to look at department policies and training and examine whether racial profiling and excessive use of force are part of the culture,” ACLU of South Carolina Executive Director Victoria Middleton, said about the Walter Scott shooting.

Although there has been no evidence the race of the North Charleston police officer and the victim played a role in the fatal shooting, the issue of skin color has already become controversial in the murder case. As previously stated by the Inquisitr, Walter Scott Sr. stated during a Wednesday morning interview that he does not know if a racial aspect was the cause for his son’s murder by the police officer.

[Images via: Twitter]

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