RAGE, AND TEARS FOR VIC
Rev.: Racism led to shooting in back ‘He brought joyto many,’ says daughter
ONE WEEK after Walter Scott died from a cop’s bullets to the back, a police escort accompanied his casket to a Saturday funeral where his killer was reviled as a racist.
The harsh words were tempered by messages of hope at the emotional sendoff for the unarmed black man fatally shot by a lying white cop in a routine traffic stop turned homicide.
An overflow crowd of more than 650 people turned out at the W.O.R.D. Ministries Christian Center to remember the father of four during a two-hour service on a dreary South Carolina afternoon.
The Rev. George Hamilton, pastor of the church, spoke on a day when many shared their love for Scott, 50. But the minister also addressed the horrifying circumstances of Scott’s death, the latest in a series of fatal incidents involving the police and black men.
“There is no doubt in my mind, and I feel that Walter’s death was motivated by racial discrimination,” said Hamilton. “You’ve got to hate somebody to shoot them in the back.”
Hamilton reminded the mourners that one bad cop did not stain the entire department.
“We will not indict the entire law enforcement community for the act of one racist,” he said.
With Scott’s brother, daughter and other relatives inside the Summerville, S.C., church, Hamilton touched on the pain the family has endured since the April 4 slaying.
“All of us have seen the video. . . . It’s one thing to have a loved one die,” he said. “It’s another to have to watch them die, and see how they died.”
The victim’s American flag-draped casket was wheeled into church past mourners holding up their cell phones to capture the sendoff for Scott — whose stunning death was recorded the same way. The taping by a heroic bystander refuted the bogus version of the shooting given by North Charleston Police Officer Michael Slager. The officer, charged with murder, remained behind bars without bond as the Scott family mourned.
The funeral was attended by two black members of the state’s congressional delegation, Sen. Tim Scott and Rep. Jim Clyburn.
The slain man’s family arrived in a small motorcade of three black limousines accompanied by the police escort. They were followed by a number of other cars in the funeral cortege.
Scott’s brother Rodney tried to put a positive spin on a sad day for family, friends and other mourners.
“Thank God my brother was used as a catalyst for change,” he said. “Nobody deserves to go out like that.”
The church was packed with more than 450 people, and another 200 were left outside. They turned out seven days after Slager ended a traffic stop for a broken tail light by firing eight shots at Scott’s back.
One group of mourners entered the church with their hands upraised in the now-familar “don’t shoot” gesture. Another man wore red T-shirts with the message, “Black lives matter.”
Friends from Scott’s distant past turned out to say their goodbyes. Tyrone Johnson, a high school classmate of Scott, said his old friend’s life mattered a lot.
“You know, Walter touched a lot of people,” he said. “He was friendly with everyone, I don’t think he ever met an enemy. So there’s a lot of people out here, just paying their respects to him and his legacy.”
The funeral program, handed out to those in the church, remembered Scott as a devout Christian who sang in his church’s choir, served in the Coast Guard and pulled for the Dallas Cowboys.
Mourners hugged outside the church as floral arrangements were carried inside for the emotional sendoff. Scott left behind a 24-year-old daughter and three sons — ages 16, 20 and 22.
“You brought so much joy into my life,” said daughter Samantha, who read a poem to honor her dad. “I will always be your little girl. But I know I need to grow up and move on. But I will never move on from you.”
When Scott tried to flee on foot, Slager pulled his gun, hitting him four times in the back and once in the ear. The mortally wounded Scott went down face-first — and never rose again.
The warehouse forklift operator owed $18,000 in child support when he was pulled over, and might have run to avoid jail.