The lone eyewitness who filmed the fatal police shooting of 50-year-old Walter Scott in S. Carolina initially contemplated erasing the video because he feared for his own life.
Feidin Santana, 23, told NBC News he was walking to work on Saturday when he observed a police officer and a man struggling on the ground.
He said the officer was in control of the situation, but Santana decided to record the scuffle with his cell phone after the officer tasered the man.
The officer, Michael Slager, 33, was later arrested and charged with murder after shooting Scott five times in the back while he .
Santana said he considered erasing the video when he saw the “magnitude” of what he had.
“I felt that my life, with this information, might be in danger. I thought about erasing the video and just getting out of the community, you know, Charleston, and living someplace else,” he told MSNBC. “I knew the cop didn’t do the right thing.”
Slager initially told a police dispatcher he feared for his life when Mr. Scott “grabbed” his taser.
But Santana contradicts Slager’s account. “It wasn’t like that, the way they were saying,” he told MSNBC. “I said, ‘No … this is not what happened.'”
Santana told “NBC Nightly News” that the cop did not seem to be in danger before he executed Scott.
“Before I started recording, they were down on the floor. I remember the police [officer] had control of the situation,” Santana said. “He had control of Scott. And Scott was trying just to get away from the Taser. But like I said, he never used the Taser against the cop.
Santana told MSNBC he decided to give the video to the victim’s family after watching news reports.
“I thought about his position, their situation … If I were to have a family member that would happen [to], I would like to know the truth,” he said.
Slager was fired from the police force on Wednesday. He is being held in jail without bond.
North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey told reporters on Wednesday that the city would continue to pay the insurance and medical bills for Slager’s wife who is eight months pregnant.
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