Execution By Cop: Sickening Murder By Cop Of An Unarmed, Fleeing Black Man
It was a traffic stop. The guy was running away, posing no danger to the officer.

Michael S. Schmidt and Matt Apuzzo write in The New York Times that a South Carolina police officer was charged with murder in a black man's death. The video -- and what the officer did: shoot an unarmed, fleeing man in the back -- is horrible and sickening to watch.

From the story:

A white police officer in North Charleston, S.C., was charged with murder on Tuesday after a video surfaced showing him shooting and killing an apparently unarmed black man in the back while he ran away.

The officer, Michael T. Slager, 33, had said he feared for his life because the man took his stun gun in a scuffle after a traffic stop on Saturday. A video, however, shows the officer firing eight times as the man -- Walter L. Scott, 50 -- fled.

...The shooting unfolded after Officer Slager stopped the driver of a Mercedes-Benz with a broken taillight, according to police reports. Mr. Scott ran away, and Officer Slager chased him into a grassy lot that abuts a muffler shop. He fired his Taser, an electronic stun gun, but it did not stop Mr. Scott, according to police reports.

Moments after the struggle, Officer Slager reported on his radio, "Shots fired and the subject is down. He took my Taser," according to police reports.

But the video, which was taken by a bystander and provided to The New York Times by Mr. Scott's lawyer, presents a different account. The video begins in the vacant lot, apparently moments after Officer Slager fired his Taser. Wires, which carry the electrical current from the stun gun, appear to be extending from Mr. Scott's body as the two men tussle and Mr. Scott turns to run.

Something -- it is not clear whether it is the stun gun -- is either tossed or knocked to the ground behind the two men and Officer Slager draws his gun, the video shows. When the officer fires, Mr. Scott appears to be 15 to 20 feet away and fleeing. He falls after the last of eight shots.

The officer then runs back toward where the initial scuffle occurred and picks something off the ground. Moments later, he drops an object near Mr. Scott's body, the video shows.

As David Burge -- @iowahawkblog -- tweeted:

@iowahawkblog This is a goddamned obscenity. Surprised he didn't shoot the cameraman too. #WalterScott

Also sickening is the description in the article of how Scott was just left there on the ground, face-down and cuffed, "for several minutes after the shooting." Police reports claim the officers performed CPR. That's not what the camera said. After those "several minutes":

A second officer arrives, puts on blue medical gloves and attends to Mr. Scott, but is not shown performing CPR. As sirens wail in the background, a third officer later arrives, apparently with a medical kit, but also not seen performing CPR.

How many others have had their lives ended in a similar way by this particular cop?