When former South Carolina officer Michael Slager initially reported what happened during the Walter Scott shooting, he claimed both of them had struggled over the officer’s Taser gun. But when witness Feidin Santan recorded the Walter Scott death video he says that is not what he saw in person.
In a related report by the Inquisitr , after Michael Slager was fired from the police department, his defense began seeking support and money in order to defend against the former SC officer’s murder charge. North Charleston, South Carolina is already beginning to protest Walter Scott’s shooting by Slager.
Walter Scott was initially stopped due to a broken tail light, but it has been reported that he ran from the former SC officer because he was allegedly behind on child support payments for his four children. It is believed Scott was concerned about being arrested.
The video in the shooting is the crucial reason why authorities decided to charge Michael Slager with first-degree murder. Initially, Slager claimed he deployed his department-issued Taser in an attempt to stop Scott, but when that did not work the two men supposedly fought over the device. Slager’s former lawyer, David Aylor, originally said that Scott managed to overpower Slager, took his Taser gun, and that’s when Slager resorted to using a gun in self defense.
“When confronted, Officer Slager reached for his Taser — as trained by the department — and then a struggle ensued,” Aylor said . “The driver tried to overpower Officer Slager in an effort to take his Taser…. [Slager] felt threatened and reached for his department-issued firearm and fired his weapon.”
Based upon the video, it became obvious Michael Slager was not under threat since he fired his gun eight times at Walter Scott’s fleeing back. Unfortunately, when witness Feidin Santana recorded the video, it did not show what happened directly before the shooting, since Santana was pointing the camera in front of him while he ran toward Slager and Scott.
Now Feidin Santana has come forward to explain how he came to record the Walter Scott shooting video. Santana says he was walking to work but ran to the scene because he noticed the former police officer controlling Scott on the ground. That’s when Santana says he heard the sound of the Taser gun going off just after Scott managed to get loose and start to run away.
“They were down on the floor before I started recording. I remember the police had control of the situation,” Santana said , according to NBC . “He had control of Scott. And Scott was trying just to get away from the Taser. But like I said, he never used the Taser against the cop. As you can see in the video, the police officer just shot him in the back. I knew right away, I had something on my hands.”
In addition, the video does show Michael Slager picking up an object that was apparently the Taser gun and then planting it next to Walter Scott’s body.
Feidin Santana says he considered erasing the video since he believed his life might be in danger since he had evidence the “cop didn’t do the right thing.” Santana was considering moving away from Charleston, but after he saw the false news reports he changed his mind, saying that if this had happened to a member of his own family, then he would want to know the truth.
Despite being called a “hero,” Santana says the public should not be overly harsh with Michael Slager, since “the officer also has his family.”
“But I think that he made a bad decision,” Santana said . “And you pay for your decisions in this life, I think.”
[Image via Google Image]