A South Carolina prosecutor accused a white former police officer on Thursday of staging a crime scene where he had just shot dead an unarmed black motorist, by moving a Taser closer to the handcuffed dead body so he could claim the victim had taken the stun gun.
Former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager, 34, is on trial for murder over the shooting death of Walter Scott, 50. Slager shot Scott five times in the back as Scott fled from the 2015 traffic stop for a broken tail light.
The shooting, captured on a bystander’s cellphone video, intensified a national debate over police use of deadly force against black men.Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson told the jury in opening statements that Scott may have grabbed Slager’s Taser as it was pressed against his body during a struggle, but Slager had attempted to make the scene look as if Scott had possession of the weapon as he fled.