Was Walter Scott’s Killing A Joke? Officer Heard Laughing About Incident In Audio Recording
North Charleston police officer Michael Slager is in hot water as The Guardian recently exposed an audio recording of him chuckling about his adrenaline rush after shooting Walter Scott eight times.
Officer who shot unarmed man #WalterScott in South Carolina has been fired, mayor says http://t.co/4xK6TvBDOl pic.twitter.com/CpEiFwvBu1
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) April 8, 2015
The audio was obtained from the dashboard camera installed in Slager’s patrol car. After shooting Scott, the camera continued recording for another hour and captured a couple of conversations that Slager allegedly made over the phone. Although the camera cannot confirm if Slager was indeed the speaker in the said audio, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division thinks that it “appears that way.”
When asked to confirm if it was Slager talking on the audio recording, SLED spokesman Thom Berry refused to give a solid confirmation and further comments. He said, “It appears that way. I have not been able to independently confirm it.”
One of Slager’s conversations that the camera picked up involved the police officer and an anonymous supervisor. This dialogue is a standard procedure after an officer-involved shooting and is not typically heard by the public.
The conversation started off with Slager asking his supervisor about what happens next. His unidentified supervisor then told him that he will be transported to the police headquarters before he is taken home.
The senior police officer explained, “It’ll be real quick. They’re gonna tell you you’re gonna be out for a couple of days, and you’ll come back and they’ll interview you then. They’re not going to ask you any kind of questions right now. They’ll take your weapon and we’ll go from there. That’s pretty much it.”
The senior office then told Slager that he will be required to give an official account of the incident in a few days. He recalled a similar experience in the past where one of his officers waited for a couple of days before he was officially interviewed.
“By the time you get home, it would probably be a good idea to kind of jot down your thoughts on what happened. You know, once the adrenaline quits pumping,” he advised.
“It’s pumping,” Slager responded with a nervous laugh.
Another conversation recorded by the dash board camera was a phone call that Slager made to his pregnant wife. He told her, “Hey. Hey, everything’s OK, OK? I just shot somebody. Yeah, he’s OK.”
Slager is now facing murder charges for shooting Scott last April 5.
[Image via The Guardian.]
