US tension as black man shot dead by white cop

US civil rights leaders call for calm after film shows officer handcuffing body

DEMONSTRATORS have rallied against what they described as a culture of police brutality in South Carolina in the case of a white officer caught on video killing a black man by shooting him in the back as the man ran away after a traffic stop.

Holding signs that read “The whole world is watching” and “Back turned, don’t shoot” yesterday, dozens of protesters in North Charleston said the death of 50-year-old Walter Scott on Saturday should not be viewed as an isolated incident.

“There is an atmosphere of racism in North Charleston, and we need to get rid of it,” said Ramon Roane, 52, one of the speakers who gave examples of what they called unfair treatment by city police and leaders.

Officer Michael Slager has been charged with murder in the latest among several shootings over the past year, including in New York, Ferguson and Cleveland. The shootings have stirred debate across the US about police use of lethal force and race relations, also drawing President Barack Obama into the discussion.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Department of Justice are investigating Scott’s shooting. Civil rights leaders have called for calm, and many people praised the courage of the witness who filmed the killing and gave the video to Scott’s family.

“When I saw it, I fell to my feet and my heart was broken,” Scott’s father, Walter sr, said on NBC’s Today show yesterday.

Without the video, “it would have never come to light. They would have swept it under the rug, like with so many others”.

The shooting was the 11th involving a police officer in South Carolina this year and the second in North Charleston, said Thom Berry, spokesman for the state’s law enforcement division. No one was injured in the prior incident in January, he said.

Police said Saturday’s shooting occurred after Slager, 33, who joined the department in 2009, stopped Scott for a broken brake light. The video shows a brief scuffle before Scott begins to run away. Slager is then seen taking aim with a handgun before shooting eight times at Scott’s back. Scott then slumps face down onto the grass.

According to a police report, Slager told other officers Scott had taken his stun gun from him. At no point in the video, which does not show the initial contact between the men, does Scott appear to be armed.

Slager is seen placing the victim in handcuffs as he lies on the ground, and then walks back to a spot near where he opened fire. He then appears to pick something up, return to Scott, and drop it next to him on the ground.

The charge could carry the death penalty, according to court records.

Scott’s family plan to file a lawsuit against Slager, the department and the city with allegations his civil rights were violated, said family lawyer Chris Stewart.

The person who filmed the video was speaking with investigators and would come forward publicly “at some point”.

North Charleston is home to about 100 000 people, nearly half of whom are black, 2010 US Census data shows.

Reportedly only about 18 percent of it roughly 340 police officers are black.

Scott’s brother, Anthony, said his sibling, a father of four, served two years in the US Coast Guard.

Walter Scott reportedly had a warrant out for his arrest from family court. His arrest history, mostly for contempt of court charges for failing to pay child support, included an assault and battery charge in 1987.

Slager, also a former Coast Guard member, had not previously been disciplined by the department. In 2013 a man accused him of shooting him with a stun gun without cause, but that Slager was cleared of wrongdoing by an internal police investigation.