Man who filmed Walter Scott shooting: I worry what might happen to me

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/09/walter-scott-shooting-south-carolina-feidin-santana

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The bystander who filmed a South Carolina police officer killing Walter Scott has said he fears repercussions for his actions.

Feidin Santana, who filmed North Charleston officer Michael Slager shooting Scott eight times as he ran away, told NBC’s Today show he was “still scared” of what might happen to him.

Santana said at first he did not know whether to stay anonymous or come forward, and that fear of the police in part encouraged his decision to speak to the press.

“At some point I thought about staying anonymous and not showing my face and not talk about it,” Santana said. “If I want to show my face, everybody over there, including the police officers, the department, knows who I am.”

“I decide to show my face to the media because my life [has] changed after this. People know where I live, people know where I work, so my normal routine of just walking from my house to work [has] changed.”

Todd Rutherford, Santana’s lawyer, said: “The first thing [Santana] said to me this morning was: ‘How can I get protection?’”

Pointing out that several officers are under investigation for discrepancies in their accounts of what happened after Scott’s killing, Rutherford said: “What does [Santana] do when the people who are supposed to protect us are the ones that are turned against us?”

After Scott’s death on Saturday, Slager first told police he had shot him because Scott had “grabbed” his Taser while struggling to flee from a traffic stop. Subsequently, other officers told reporters that Scott had attempted to use the Taser against Slager.

Santana’s video clearly shows Scott several yards away and running with his back turned as Slager pulls his gun and opens fire.

Santana also reiterated his account of the shooting, saying he believed Scott fled because “just wanted to get away from the Taser”. Scott’s family has said he was desperate to avoid jail time over child support payments, and suggested he ran from Slager for this reason.

Before he started filming, Santana said, it looked as though Scott and Slager had briefly struggled on the ground. “They were down on the floor before I started recording,” he said. Santana said Scott “never grabbed the Taser of the police”.

Scott’s older brother, Anthony, has said he first saw the video at a vigil earlier this week. He told Time that Santana had not delivered it to the family or press because he wanted to see whether the police account of the shooting matched what he saw and filmed.

“He wanted to see what reports were coming from the North Charleston police department because of the fact that they may have told the truth,” Scott told Time. “And when they continued with the lies, he said: ‘I have to come forward.’”

Within 24 hours of the video’s release on Wednesday, Slager was arrested and charged with murder.

In the video, Santana does not interact with Slager or his partner. Santana mutters “abuse” as he approaches the prone body of Walter Scott, where two officers hover. They apparently ignore him, although Santana says one told him “to just move from there”. Earlier in the video, but after Slager shot Scott, Slager appears to turn and look directly at Santana.

“I recorded the video, so maybe that he felt that he can feel that someone is there,” Santana said. “It was an empty spot, there were just the three of us in that moment … I couldn’t tell what was going to happen so I just [wanted] him to know that he’s not by himself.”

Rutherford and Scott’s family have repeatedly said they believe Slager would have faced no charges had Santana not filmed the shooting. The families of several other black people killed by police – some also caught on video – argued on Wednesday that not even video is enough to hold police accountable.

After seeing the video, North Charleston police and officials swiftly condemned Slager’s actions. “I was sickened by what I saw,” said Eddie Driggers, the city’s police chief, who had a ready answer to questions of whether officers had followed protocol: “Obviously not.”

The city has ceded control of the investigation to a state agency – a move in sharp contrast to the public defense of other police officers who have controversially killed black people.

Leaders of the main New York police union denounced their mayor for comments made after police killings. Officials from the city of Ferguson, Missouri, appeared slow and defensive after a police killing led to mass protests.