Sentencing starts for officer who shot, killed unarmed man

AP Photo/Mic Smith

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A white former police officer who shot an unarmed black man to death as he fled a traffic stop never had any “racial animus” toward minorities in the community, his attorney said Monday.

The sentencing hearing for ex-officer Michael Slager opened up with his attorneys playing cellphone and dashcam video that showed the traffic stop and the shooting itself. Slager’s attorneys think the videos show him acting in calm, professional demeanor leading up to the fatal shooting of Walter Scott. Prosecutors believe it depicts the officer’s callous behavior.

Slager, 36, pleaded guilty in federal court in May to violating Scott’s civil rights and faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced by a judge, perhaps as soon as this week.

“There’s nothing in Michael Slager’s background, from birth to today, of any racial animus or any harassment of minority members of the community,” his attorney Andy Savage said.

Slager, a former North Charleston officer, pulled Scott over on April 4, 2015, for a broken brake light. He said he shot the 50-year-old black motorist in self-defense when Scott tried to grab his Taser.