Dashcam video from Michael Slager’s police car was released Thursday by The South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division.The video shows Slager pulling over a dark grey or blue Mercedes Benz driven by Walter Scott. The song “What It's Like” plays from Slager’s radio as he follows the Mercedes into a fast-food parking lot. As he exits his patrol car a verse from the Everlast song ends. God forbid, you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes / 'Cause then you really might know what it's like to sing the blues.
Walter Scott, 50, had a bench warrant for failure to pay child support. In the video, he is heard speaking calmly to Slager, explaining that his insurance papers are not in the car. He hands the officer his driver’s license, and Slager, 33, returns to the patrol car. As he slams the door, the song can be heard again You know where it ends, yo, it usually depends on where you start. Scott is then seen opening the door, and starting to exit the car. Officer Slager yells at him -- “get back in the car” -- and Scott complies. Then, right on the lyric lost his head, Scott swings open his door and sprints away from the parking lot.
“What It’s Like” chronicles stories of people who are down on their luck and the people who are quick to judge them. It starts with a homeless man outside of a convenience store who asks a stranger for change only to be told to Get a job. It also chronicles an abandoned woman who gets an abortion, and a family who is left homeless when character named Max “lost his head” and wound up dead. We may never know what Slager was thinking during the encounter. At the very least, his actions indicate some degree of disregard for Walter Scott’s life.
Slager exits the patrol car and pursues Scott. We are pretty sure what happened next. A witness says that Slager caught up to Scott and the two scuffled as the officer tried to make the arrest. Scott later freed himself. Footage from another video shows Scott running away. he gets about 15-20 feet from Officer Slager when a volley of shots is fired, hitting him in the back and ear. Scott died from his wounds. In the pursuit, Slager’s wind-stricken mic makes the song inaudible, but it continues to play in the patrol car. Here’s how it ends.
Now his wife and his kids are caught in the midst of all of this pain
You know it comes that way
At least that's what they say when you play the game
God forbid, you ever had to wake up to hear the news
'Cause then you really might know what it's like to have to lose
"That was not right. The policeman is supposed to protect the people,” Walter Scott's mother, Judy Scott, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “I want them to know that he was a loving son, a loving father. He cared about his family.”
The video taken by Feidin Santana directly contradicted Michael Slager’s statements catalogued in the police report. After the video was released Slager was arrested and fired. At a bail hearing Slager stood before the judge and answered questions about his family. The moment is captured in a courthouse video. “I have two stepchildren and one on the way,” he told the judge. No one should ever know what it’s like to be Michael Slanger. On the news, Scott’s loved ones captured the empathy that Slager lost in the heat of the moment.
"He made a bad choice. All I can say is he has to get it right with God and I hope he can," said Walter Scott’s brother, Rodney.
“I feel forgiveness in my heart, even for the guy who shot and killed my son," Judy Scott said.
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