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Black Lives Matter: Where is Michael Slager now? Cop who shot unarmed Walter Scott 8 times laughed after shooting

In an audio clip released later, Slager was reportedly heard laughing about his 'pumping' adrenaline after he shot Walter Scott

The shooting of Walter Scott in 2015 marked one of the biggest instances of police brutality against the Black community in America. On April 4, 2015, 50-year-old Walter Scott was stopped by 33-year-old police officer Slager for a non-functional third brake light in his Mercedes. The interaction between the two led to a chase on foot as Scott tried to flee, followed by a physical altercation.

According to a video clip, Slager fired his Taser towards Scott before or during the struggle but Scott managed to escape. Then Slager drew his handgun and fired eight rounds of bullets at Scott from behind, according to New York Times. Scott died with a fatal wound from a bullet that struck his lungs and heart. In an audio clip released later, Slager was reportedly heard laughing about his 'pumping' adrenaline after he shot Walter Scott, according to a Huffpost report.

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Following his trial, Slager was sentenced to 20 years in prison in December 2017, with the offense of second-degree murder. The incident sparked off widespread protests and triggered a national conversation around race and policing. Scott's death was protested by the supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement. In October 2015, the City of North Charleston agreed to pay $6.5 million to Walter Scott in an out-of-court settlement.

Michael Slager had a record of tasing without cause

Prior to his employment with the North Charleston Police, Michael Slager served in the US Coast Guard, same as his victim Walter Scott who served for two years in the Coast Guard. He had been working as a police officer for over five years. Despite being known for using 'great officer safety tactics' while dealing with suspects, Slager had an unusual pattern of complaints against him.

In 2013, he was named in a complaint for using a Taser on a man without any cause, reported NBC News. After receiving a clearance from the police department, Slager faced a similar complaint again in August 2014 for tasing without cause.  

Michael Slager's trial

As per Washington Post, immediately after the shooting, Slager radioed a dispatcher saying, "Shots fired and the subject is down. He grabbed my Taser." In his initial report of the shooting before the video surfaced, Slager stated that he feared for his life and felt threatened as Scott had grabbed his Taser. 

However, it was a video of the shooting captured by eyewitness Feidin Santana on his phone, that helped indict Slager. Although he initially feared sharing the video with the police, he later changed his mind as he found false narratives of the shooting on paper. 

Was Michael Slager arrested?

The video became the key piece of evidence in Slager's trial as it showed Scott simply trying to get away from Slager's Taser before he was fatally shot. Contrary to Slager's initial report, Scott actually never tried to get hold of Slager's Taser, as confirmed by Santana as well. 

Three days after the shooting, Slager was arrested and charged with murder. On June 8, he was indicted on murder charge by a South Carolina grand jury. 

On January 4, 2016, after being jailed over nine months without bail, Slager was released on a bond of $500,000. Till the beginning of his trial in October 2016, he was confined to house arrest. On December 5, a judge declared a mistrial after the jury faced a deadlock with 11 of the 12 jurors favoring a conviction.

Slager's attempt to overturn the trial verdict

Eventually, on May 2, 2017, Slager pleaded guilty in federal court to the crime of deprivation of rights under the color of law. In exchange, the federal prosecutors dropped the remaining charges on Slager.

He was thereby sentenced to 19 to 24 years of imprisonment in 2017, reported The Guardian. He started serving his sentence in Colorado's Federal Correctional Institution. August 16, 2033, is believed to be his earliest possible release date.

In January 2019, Michael Slagar filed an appeal for reduction of his sentence — which was denied by a federal appeals court in 2020 and his 20-year prison sentence was upheld. In May 2020, Slager sought to overturn his sentence, blaming the ineffectiveness of his lawyers during parts of the trial, revealed The Post and Courier.

‘BLM swept their cases under the rug... Why?’

Filed on May 20, 2020, Slager's motion to overturn his sentence listed out a number of reasons for his lawyers being 'constitutionally ineffective', especially regarding plea negotiations and advice. He added that his lawyers failed to present critical witness testimony in his defense and were incompetent in advising him to sign the plea agreement. 

Of late, a disturbing trend has surfaced online with Twitter users appealing for the release of Michael Slager terming his conviction as wrongful. There are even some demands for his reinstatement into the force.

"Police Officer Michael Slager was an outstanding professional. Now U.S Never Won the WAR ON DRUGS/there is a Lot of Weed out there. Department of Justice must released or pardoned immediately Experience Cops and put them back on Active Duty," tweeted a user. Another wrote, "@POTUS 1/2 Please pardon #MichaelSlager. Reasons are many. There are strong doubts whether he was given impartial judgment. It looks like double jeopardy happened. 2nd dg murder sentence does not seem just as serious physical altercation happened before shots were fired."

"Don't act like you KNOW what I think, ass licker. I've seen some that are not justified. See Michael Slager and Michael Dunn. BLM swept their cases under the rug. why? Because they wanted them hung in a public square. BLM won't stop until all white people are exterminated," another anti-BLM user responded.

The movement for justice is still continuing for other Black victims of police brutality like George Floyd, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, or Michael Brown.