The white police officer who fatally shot 50-year-old black man Walter Scott has been fired by the North Charleston police department, city officials confirmed on Wednesday.
Mayor Keith Summey said that officer Michael Slager, 33, had his contract terminated, though the city will continue to cover his insurance until his wife, who is eight months pregnant, gives birth to their baby.
Slager, who has been charged with murder, shot at Scott while he was running away from the officer. Video of the incident became public on Tuesday, though there is also at least one dashcam video of the incident, the mayor said. “There’s the car video ... what I understand, the video that I saw was not all of the video that exists,” he said.
Summey said that the city had received a grant to order 101 body cameras and that he had ordered an additional 150 cameras that officers would be trained to use.
He, his wife and police chief Eddie Driggers met with Scott’s family on Wednesday morning. “A wonderful, down-to-earth family, a wonderful group of people,” he said.
“I have watched the video, and I was sickened by what I saw,” said Driggers.
Both men deflected most of the questions and directed people to the state law enforcement division (SLED), which is investigating the incident. “There are questions that I have in my mind, that I can’t answer right now,” said Driggers.
The press conference was frequently interrupted by demonstrators chanting things including: “We want Driggers,” and: “The mayor has got to go.”
Summey said that the city was looking at how the police department could have a closer relationship with the community. “We’ll be having some good open dialogue in the next 30 days,” he said, and invited anyone interested in joining to contact his office.
He said that the city would also investigate previous incidents involving Slager if the public or media requested it.
He also confirmed that it was department policy to handcuff a dead body, as Slager can be seen doing in the video of Scott’s death.
Summey said Driggers was not allowed to answer questions about the investigation because it is being investigated by SLED. The police chief was allowed to speak briefly about his discussions with Scott’s family.
“I have been praying for peace,” said Driggers. “Peace for the family and peace for this community and I will continue to stand on that as I continue to protect and serve.”
Protests continued outside city hall after the press conference on Wednesday. Demonstrators had gathered there around 9.30am and continued through the day, with a brief recess before the press conference.
Activist Muhiyidin d’Baha walked into the conference room chanting into a megaphone.
“What would you do if a camera wasn’t there?” he asked, echoing concerns in the community that there would not have been furor over the killing without such stark proof that Scott was fleeing.
The mayor’s explanations were repeatedly interrupted by shouts of “No justice, no peace!” and other questions that he said he couldn’t answer.
At one point during the press conference Driggers was asked if another officer – an African American – whom the video shows arriving after Scott is shot but before Slager drops an object near the body, had come forward to say Slager was not telling the truth about the course of events.
Driggers replied: “To my knowledge, nobody was witness to anything but Slager, to my knowledge.”
Driggers is later asked about the second officer’s name. A reporter shouts a name, inaudible on the broadcast, after which Driggers nods. That section of questioningwas cut from the city of North Charleston’s YouTube video of the press conference.
City officials later confirmed the officer was Clarence Habersham. Reached by telephone on Wednesday afternoon, a woman at a residential address listed for Habersham hung up when asked if he was available for comment.
Protests began within hours of the murder charge against Slager, which was announced on Tuesday, the same day the video was released to the media. About75 people gathered outside city hall in North Charleston, led by Black Lives Matter, a group formed after the fatal shooting of another black man in Ferguson, Missouri.
“Eight shots in the back!” local organizer D’Baha hollered through a bullhorn, and the crowd yelled “In the back!” in response.
The video recorded by an unidentified bystander shows North Charleston patrolman Michael Thomas Slager dropping his stun gun, pulling out his handgun and firing at Walter Lamer Scott from a distance as he runs away. The 50-year-old man falls after the eighth shot, fired after a brief pause.
The dead man’s father, Walter Scott Sr, said on Wednesday that the officer “looked like he was trying to kill a deer running through the woods”. He also told NBC’s Today show that his son may have tried to flee because he owed child support and didn’t want to go back to jail.
The video is “the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen”, said Judy Scott, the slain man’s mother, on ABC’s Good Morning America.
“I almost couldn’t look at it to see my son running defenselessly, being shot. It just tore my heart to pieces,” she said.
The bystander is assisting investigators after providing the video to Scott’s family and lawyers.
Police initially released a statement that promised a full investigation but relied largely on the officer’s description of the confrontation, which began with a traffic stop Saturday as Slager pulled Scott over for a faulty brake light.
Slager’s then-attorney David Aylor released another statement Monday saying the officer felt threatened and fired because Scott was trying to grab his stun gun.
Aylor dropped Slager as a client after the video surfaced, and the officer, a five-year veteran with the North Charleston police, appeared without a lawyer at his first appearance Tuesday. He was denied bond and could face 30 years to life in prison if convicted of murder.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers’ Association (SCLEOA) confirmed that Slager had been a member of the organisation, which provides legal representation to its affiliates.
But a spokesman told the Guardian that Slager would not be provided any assistance as his case “does not meet the SCLEOA criteria of a meritorious defense case”.
In a statement SCLEOA said: “It is sad for us when a police officer makes what appears to be a very bad decision that resulted in unnecessary death. Working with the community and elected officials we can overcome this tragedy. The swift decision to charge the officer demonstrates that law enforcement will not tolerate the tarnishing of the badge and oaths we all take so seriously.”
The shooting comes amid a plunge in trust between law enforcement and minorities after the officer-involved killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York. Nationwide protests intensified after grand juries declined to indict the officers in both cases.
But a spokesman told the Guardian that Slager would not be provided any assistance as his case “does not meet the SCLEOA criteria of a meritorious defense case”.
In a statement SCLEOA said: “It is sad for us when a police officer makes what appears to be a very bad decision that resulted in unnecessary death. Working with the community and elected officials we can overcome this tragedy. The swift decision to charge the officer demonstrates that law enforcement will not tolerate the tarnishing of the badge and oaths we all take so seriously.”
The shooting comes amid a plunge in trust between law enforcement and minorities after the officer-involved killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York. Nationwide protests intensified after grand juries declined to indict the officers in both cases.
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