Ex-officer to plead guilty in killing of black driver

•A white police officer whose killing of a black motorist running from a traffic stop was recorded on a cellphone video agreed to plead guilty Tuesday to violating his civil rights, a conviction that could send him to prison for decades.

As part of the plea deal, South Carolina prosecutors would drop the state’s murder case against Michael Slager, who was fired from the North Charleston police force when the bystander’s video became public.

Slager, 35, could have been imprisoned for life in each case if convicted in the April 2015 death of Walter Scott. He had been scheduled to appear in federal court Tuesday for motions ahead of his federal trial planned for later this month

The video of Scott’s death, viewed millions of times online, begins after Slager caught up with the 50-yearold motorist who ran from a traffic stop. Scott can be seen breaking away after they struggled over the officer’s Taser. Slager began firing at Scott’s back from 17 feet away. Five of the eight bullets hit him.

The grainy video captured Scott’s death clearly enough for many more people outside African-American communities to accept the complaints fuelling the Black Lives Matter movement.

In March, a judge ruled that jurors in Slager’s federal trial would be allowed to view the video, over objections by his lawyers.

The proposed plea deal in the civil rights case makes no mention of race.

“The defendant wilfully used deadly force even though it was objectively unreasonable under the circumstances,” according to the plea agreement.

“The defendant acknowledges that during the time he used deadly force, he knew that the use of deadly force was unnecessary and excessive, and therefore unreasonable under the circumstances.”

Slager pulled Scott over on April 4, 2015, because of a broken tail light on the 1990 Mercedes he had just gotten. While Slager sat in his patrol car running his licence, Scott bolted. Scott’s family has said he may have been worried about going to jail because he was $18,000 behind on child support.

Slager testified last year that he feared for his life because Scott was trying to grab his Taser.

The video shows Slager recovering the Taser and dropping it near Scott’s body, prosecutors said, in an attempt to alter crime scene evidence. Slager denied that, testifying that he was following rules to maintain custody of his weapons.

Slager testified last year that he regrets what happened. “My family has been destroyed by it. The Scott family has been destroyed by it. It’s horrible,” he said.