Re-posted by Nicholas Stix
Michael Slager "a very good officer," former boss testifies in murder trial
By Crimesider Staff/AP
November 22, 2016, 3:35 PM
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Michael Slager was a good officer who did what was expected, got good department reviews and seldom prompted complaints, Slager’s old supervisor at the North Charleston Police Department testified during the fired patrolman’s murder trial on Tuesday.
An undated photo shows Walter Scott.
WCSC via Facebook
“He was a very good officer,” testified Sgt. Ronald Webb who was Slager’s immediate supervisor on the day last year when Slager shot and killed an unarmed black motorist fleeing from a traffic stop.
Slager faces 30 years to life if convicted of murder in the April 2015 shooting death of 50-year-old Walter Scott. The shooting of Scott five times in the back was captured on cellphone video by a bystander.
Once the video was made public, Slager, 35, was charged with murder and fired by the department where he had been an officer for five years. The shooting rekindled a national debate about the treatment of black suspects at the hands of white officers.
Webb said that he was Slager’s supervisor for six months before the shooting. At the end of 2014, he testified Slager “got a pretty good appraisal.”
He said the only complaint he could recall getting about Slager was during another traffic stop when a man asked that Slager’s supervisor come to the scene. The motorist, Webb said, was pretty upset about being pulled over.
“I couldn’t calm him down either. He was pretty outraged,” he said, adding that a third officer eventually reported to the scene.
The defense contends that Scott and Slager wrestled on the ground in the seconds before the shooting and Scott got control of Slager’s Taser and stunned the officer.
[That they "wrestled," or that Scott assaulted Slager?]
Earlier Tuesday William Schneck, a trace evidence expert, testified that yellow paint found on Slager’s Taser matched paint from an asphalt path through a vacant lot where Scott was shot.
He also said yellow paint was found on a cellphone that Scott was carrying that also matched paint from the path which has been referred to in the trial as the yellow brick road.
Dr. Thomas Owens, the chief medical examiner in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, testified for the defense that autopsy photos of Scott showed injuries consistent with the signs of a struggle. He said that there were abrasions and bruises on Scott’s hands, wrists, face and head that occurred before the shooting. The jury was shown the photos showing the injuries.
The Slager trial continues as an Ohio prosecutor announced Tuesday he will retry a defendant in a similar shooting involving a white police officer and a black motorist.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters says he will again prosecute fired University of Cincinnati officer Ray Tensing on murder and voluntary manslaughter charges after a Nov. 12 mistrial because of a hung jury.
"The Slager trial continues as an Ohio prosecutor announced Tuesday he will retry a defendant in a similar shooting involving a white police officer and a black motorist."
ReplyDeleteTry the whitey guy over and over endlessly until you get a conviction on something. Just like the despotic kings of old used to do. Sure.
"The defense contends that Scott and Slager wrestled on the ground in the seconds before the shooting and Scott got control of Slager’s Taser and stunned the officer."
ReplyDeleteNOT necessarily contend but that IT DID OCCUR. The two men fought it out on the ground. Then Scott grabbed the taser of the officer and attempted to use the taser on the officer.
Having seen a taser in the holster it does resemble a firearm. Scott probably thought it was a gun, disarmed the officer, then fired the taser, thinking he would kill the officer.
ReplyDeletePolice can fire at a fleeing fugitive if that fugitive is a felon and in the reasonable opinion of the officer at the scene the fleeing fugitive represents a further threat to the public. Supreme Court standard.
ReplyDeleteThis was all about a tail light being out too. That was why Scott was stopped in the first place. Scott ran because he mistakenly thought he was going back to jail for not paying child support. For that Scott was willing to kill the police officer.
ReplyDeletePray for Officer Michael Slager.
ReplyDelete