A passenger was reportedly in Walter Scott’s car when Scott was stopped by a North Charleston police officer who fatally shot him shortly afterwards.
Local news station ABCNews4 said police reports showed an unidentified passenger was inside Scott’s Mercedes Benz when the 50-year-old was stopped by officer Michael Slager last Saturday.
That person could provide insight into the circumstances that led Slager to fire at Scott while the unarmed man was running away – an incident that was captured on video by Feidin Santana, who was walking to work nearby.
A spokesman for the Scott family’s attorney, Chris Stewart, told the news station the family does not know who the passenger was.
Santana’s video was released on Tuesday night and he identified himself as the cameraman on Wednesday. He said Scott and Slager were struggling on the ground before the shooting and confirmed Scott was running away from a stun gun, as his video indicates.
Early police reports said Scott had grabbed Slager’s Taser, though it does not appear that he had the weapon in his possession at any point.
“They were down on the floor before I started recording,” Santana told NBC Nightly News. “I remember the police had control of the situation. He had control of Scott, and Scott was trying just to get away from the Taser. You can hear the sound of the Taser … before I started recording. I believe he just wanted to get away from the Taser.”
Slager has been charged with murder and fired from the North Charleston police department.
Mayor Keith Summey said on Wednesday that the city had received a grant to order 101 body cameras and that he had ordered an additional 150. He also confirmed the existence of video of the incident from inside the patrol car.
Activists are pushing for greater reform within the North Charleston police department, in which less than 20% of officers are black in a city where nearly 50% of the population is black. Demonstrators plan to attend a city council meeting on Thursday night.
