The world is watching America’s cops very closely in the wake of what has been a turbulent year or so for law enforcement. Apparently they don’t give a damn though, as each week seems to bring a new video showing brutal overuse of force and, in this extreme video clip, wanton shooting.

This time it’s South Carolina and another white police officer gunning down an unarmed black man, shooting him EIGHT times in the back as he flees. Huffington Post reports:

The confrontation started when [policeman Michael] Slager had reportedly pulled over [Walter] Scott because of a broken taillight. It escalated into a foot chase as Scott allegedly fled because there were family court-issued warrants for his arrest. Slager pursued Scott into a grassy lot and claimed that he fired his Taser to subdue him.

Moments later, Slager reported on his radio, “Shots fired and the subject is down. He took my Taser.”

Now the video seems to tell a somewhat different story. It appears that Slager drops the Taser after he has gunned Scott down, and even though police reports say officers administered CPR to Scott the video shows the victim handcuffed and face down without any medical assistance.

Scott did have a history of indiscretions, with this from Huffington Post again:

Scott had been arrested about 10 times in the past, mostly for failing to pay child support or show up for hearings, according to the paper.

“He has four children, he doesn’t have some type of big violent past or arrest record. He had a job, he was engaged,” a lawyer for Scott’s family told the Times. “He had back child support and didn’t want to go to jail for back child support.”

Slager has been arrested and could face murder charges if investigations show he acted without reason. I think the video up top should tie this one up pretty quickly then.

[source:huffingtonpost]