Race an issue in new U.S. police shooting

• An unarmed man shot by a South Carolina trooper during a traffic stop repeated one question through his anguished cries as he lay wounded, waiting for an ambulance: “Why did you shoot me?”

Levar Jones’s painful groans and then trooper Sean Groubert’s reply — “Well, you dove headfirst back into your car” — were captured by a dashboard camera in the trooper’s car.

Mr. Groubert had stopped Mr. Jones on a seatbelt violation at a Columbia gas station and fired the shots moments after asking the man for his licence.

Later on the recording, Mr. Jones said he was just reaching into his vehicle for his identification after the trooper pulled up without his siren on. What appears to be his wallet can be seen flying through the air as Mr. Groubert fires four shots within seconds after confronting Mr. Jones.

Mr. Groubert’s lawyer, Barney Giese, said the shooting was justified because the trooper feared for his life and the safety of others. But prosecutors and Mr. Groubert’s boss disagreed.

The 31-year-old officer was charged with felony assault and fired less than three weeks after the Sept. 4 traffic stop.

The dashboard camera video was released by prosecutors Wednesday night after they showed it at Mr. Groubert’s bond hearing. He was released after paying 10% of a $75,000 bond.

Mr. Jones is recovering after being shot in the hip. He released a statement last week saying he hopes his shooting leads to changes in how police officers treat suspects.

So far in 2014 in South Carolina, police have shot at suspects 35 times, killing 16 of them, ac-

S.C. police have shot at 35 in 2014

cording to the State Law Enforcement Division.

The number of officerinvolved shootings has been steadily increasing over the past few years, with 42 reported in 2013.

Mr. Groubert is white and Mr. Jones is black, but neither state police nor the Federal Bureau of Investigation keeps detailed statistics on the races of people in officer-involved shootings.

Much like the recent police shooting of Michael Brown, a black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., the racial aspect of the South Carolina shooting bothers state Representative Joe Neal, who wants a review of training for officers across the state and police agencies to follow a law requiring them to collect data about the race of people they stop.

“You are doing exactly what the police officer asked you do to and you get shot for it?” said Mr. Neal. “That’s insane.”

In the Ferguson shooting, Tom Jackson, the local police chief, released a video Thursday apologizing to the Brown family and the community, acknowledging the body remained in the street for too long after he was killed.

The video was released the same day Mr. Brown’s parents were in Washington, pressing for a full federal investigation into the shooting, which provoked weeks of unrest. A state grand jury is considering whether criminal charges are warranted, but a decision isn’t expected for several weeks.

Mr. Brown was unarmed when he was fatally shot Aug. 9 by Officer Darren Wilson, who is white.

His body remained in the street for more than four hours. At the time, police said they needed the time to gather evidence from the street, Canfield Drive.

“But it was just too long and I’m truly sorry for that,” Mr. Jackson said on the video. “Please know that the investigating officers meant no disrespect to the Brown family, to the African-American community or the people of Canfield [Drive]. They were simply trying to do their jobs.”

To the Brown family, he said, “I’m truly sorry for the loss of your son.”