In the very first media reports of the shooting by South Carolina officer Michael Slager of Walter Scott the North Charleston police were quoted as follows (Saturday April 4th):
FIRST MEDIA 4/4/15 […] Police in a matter of hours declared the occurrence at the corner of Remount and Craig roads a traffic stop gone wrong, alleging the dead man fought with an officer over his Taser before deadly force was employed.
[…] A statement released by North Charleston police spokesman Spencer Pryor said a man ran on foot from the traffic stop and an officer deployed his department-issued Taser in an attempt to stop him.
That did not work, police said, and an altercation ensued as the men struggled over the device. Police allege that during the struggle the man gained control of the Taser and attempted to use it against the officer. The officer then resorted to his service weapon and shot him, police alleged. (link)
A video containing part of the confrontation surfaced when eye-witness Feidin Santana contacted the family of Walter Scott the following day (Sunday); and then gave the video to South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) on Monday.
Officer Slager was arrested later Monday afternoon and charged with Murder before witness Santana was even interviewed.
The actual public display of the video began on Tuesday April 7th. With the immediate media storyline stating the original police statements were “false” and/or “factually inaccurate”.
The story became about “lying police”, and that specific narrative framed the media discussion for the next week. Even normally level-headed media punditry jumped into the PC fray for their pound of flesh shouting that Officer Slager falsified his statement(s).
However, with time, further careful research, and much closer looks at the video itself, it appears that nothing initially stated by South Carolina LEO, or more specifically Officer Michael Slager is false or incorrect. [zoomed taser video by Bob]







