Ex-officer’s lawyers point to video for defence in shooting
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Attorneys for the white former South Carolina officer charged with killing a black motorist argue his insurer wrongly dumped his defence before seeing what they described as an FBI enhancement of a bystander’s video of the shooting.
The cellphone recording of the death of motorist Walter Scott helped fuel national debate about the treatment of African-Americans by white police officers. The iPhone video captured former North Charleston officer Michael Slager firing eight times as Scott ran away from him after a traffic stop in April 2015.
After the video went viral, Slager was swiftly fired and charged with murder, then dropped by the Southern States Police Benevolent Association.
Attorneys for Slager contend in court filings this week that the association abandoned Slager in a “rush to judgment” four days after the shooting. Slager sued last November, accusing the insurer of failing to provide the legal representation he’d paid for under an insurance policy.