Everything The Police Said About Walter Scott’s Death Before A Video Showed What Really Happened

<img src="http://d35brb9zkkbdsd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/slagered... align="right" width="240">On Tuesday, South Carolina police officer Michael Thomas Slager was charged with first-degree murder for the shooting death of Walter Scott. Charges against South Carolina police officers for shooting someone are extremely rare. But what was particularly remarkable in this case was, for at least two days, Slager was apparently unaware that video of the entire incident existed.

This provides a unique opportunity to observe how one police officer sought to avoid accountability for his actions.

Between the time when he shot and killed Scott early Saturday morning and when charges were filed, Slager — using the both the police department and his attorney — was able to provide his “version” of the events. He appeared well on his way to avoiding charges and pinning the blame on Scott.

Then a video, shot by an anonymous bystander, revealed exactly what happened.
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Read more at http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/04/07/3644189/everything-police-sa...