Feidin Santana told NBC News he knew he had to reach out to the family of Walter Scott. Photo / NBC
Feidin Santana told NBC News he knew he had to reach out to the family of Walter Scott. Photo / NBC
The eyewitness who filmed the moment an unarmed man was shot dead in the back by a police officer has come forward and broken his silence.
Feidin Santana claims that Walter Scott, a 59-year-old black man, was involved in a scuffle on the ground with police officer Michael Slager, and that he was not trying to fight the man but rather get away from his Taser.
Having caught the entire thing on film, he knew he had to reach out to the family.
"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 told NBC Nightly.
"Mr Scott didn't deserve this, and there were other ways that can be used to get him arrested, and that wasn't the proper way to do that."
Meanwhile, an Indiegogo page has been created to raise money in support of Slager, with donations continuing to come in, and a Facebook page and Twitter account have also been created to support the effort'
"We're campaigning to show our Support for Officer Michael T. Slager! We believe in all of our LEOs and want to publicly support them!" reads the page. "Although he may have made mis-steps in judgement he was protecting the community."
US authorities have refused to say whether other police officers will be charged in the cover-up of Mr Scott's death.
North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey would not answer questions on the involvement of other members of the force in the killing of Mr Scott.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
During a chaotic press conference on Wednesday, demonstrators grew angry after the mayor took over questions directed at Police Chief Eddie Driggers who stepped back from the podium.
Mayor Summey refused to answer questions on other cops' involvement, citing an independent investigation underway by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
Slager was fired one day after his murder charge but his wife, who is eight months' pregnant, would still receive insurance from the city until after her baby was born because it was the "humane thing to do", the mayor said.
Mayor Summey and his wife, along with the police chief, visited the Scott family on Wednesday. Mayor Summey said: "This has been a horrible tragedy. There have been two families that have been harmed greatly - both the victim's and the officer's family."
The mayor continued: "I was taken aback by the warm and kind reception that we received from Scott family. They are an outstanding family within our community. The mother and father are wonderful people and they are suffering.
Walter Scott, left, and the man who shot him, Michael Slager.
"Please pray for this family. We will be there to support them for the funeral with a police escort. Give them the utmost respect and that for the deceased."
Mr Scott, a veteran of the US Coastguard, leaves a fiancée, his siblings and four children.
The mayor said that 250 body cameras were going to installed on police officers' uniforms and that drafting of a policy for use was already underway.
Chief Driggers told the press conference that he was "sickened" by the video and had watched it only once.
No other officers had seen what happened at the shooting scene, according to Chief Driggers.
When asked why no one had performed CPR on Scott, Chief Driggers then said he believed one cop had taken off Mr Scott's shirt and tried to perform life-saving measures.
'No justice, no peace'
Chief Driggers said that he had spoken to Walter Scott Sr "father to father" during a visit to the grieving family's home.
"I would ask you to give them the respect they deserve during this time,' he said. "We are doing our best as a police department not only to serve but to protect during this time. We are going to continue to strive to do what's right."
He added: "I have been praying for peace, peace for the family and peace for this community."
Before the press conference, demonstrators held up signs and chanted: "This is what democracy looks like" and "no justice, no peace".
Chief Driggers said his department had been under "no obligation" to turn over the investigation to an independent body but did so "because it was the right thing to do".
Demonstrators gathered outside city hall earlier on Wednesday, holding signs which read Black Lives Matter, to protest against the latest cop killing at a time of mounting unrest over police use of force in the US - particularly against black men.
The Charleston County Coroner's Office announced on Wednesday that the 50-year-old's death was the result of multiple gunshot wounds to the back. The death was deemed a homicide.
The father of Walter Scott told the Today show on Wednesday that the family wanted justice for their son.
"It would have never come to light. They would have swept it under the rug, like they did with so many others," Walter Scott Sr said.
"The way he [Slager] was shooting that gun, it looked like he was trying to kill a deer... I don't know whether it was racial, or it was something wrong with his head."
An outraged representative of Scott's family added: "This was a cop who felt like he could get away with just shooting anybody that many times in the back."
