Michael T. Slager, the 33-year-old officer involved in the shooting, said he feared for his life when the victim allegedly took his stun gun during a fracas after a traffic stop on Saturday, according to The New York Times. The officer was charged with murder on Tuesday after a video surfaced showing the officer shooting 50-year-old Walter L. Scott eight times in the back as Scott fled.
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The mayor of North Charleston announced the state charges on Tuesday evening.
"When you're wrong, you're wrong," Mayor Keith Summey said during the news conference, according to The New York Times. "And if you make a bad decision, don't care if you're behind the shield or just a citizen on the street, you have to live by that decision."
According to Post and Courier, Scott had been arrested 10 times in his lifetime - mostly for not appearing at child support hearings. Slager joined the North Charleston Police Department after serving in the U.S. Coast Guard. Slager's attorney said the officer had never been disciplined. After Post and Courier filed a S.C. Freedom of Information Act request, documents showed two complaints on the officer's record - one for excessive use of force at a residence while investigating a burglary.
North Charleston is the third-largest city in South Carolina. Total population of the city is 100,00 - 47 percent African-American, 37 percent white. As of the last count in 2007, the police department is 80 percent white, according to The New York Times.
