The former South Carolina police officer who shot and killed Walter Scott in April 2015 has been indicted on three federal charges, including a civil rights charge, according to court records released on Wednesday.
A federal grand jury charged that Michael Slager, 34, shot Scott “without legal justification, willfully depriving him of the right, secured and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States, to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer.” The Post and Courier first reported the news.
Slager, who is white, is already facing state charges in the death of Scott, 50, who was black. The state trial is scheduled for Oct. 31.
Slager is set to be arraigned in federal court later Wednesday afternoon in Charleston.
Slager initially said Scott charged at him with a taser during a traffic stop when he shot at him. A video shows that Scott was running away from Slager when the former officer shot him five times.
Slager was fired from the police department in April.
The Post and Courier called the new charges a “backstop” for if the state’s murder case fails. That report said putting him on trial in both state and federal courts for the same shooting is not double jeopardy because the jurisdictions are considered sovereign.
Because Scott died, Slager could be sentenced to life in prison on the civil rights charge.
“This is history,” Chris Stewart, a Scott family attorney, said Wednesday. “It could be a turning point in history that the federal government is no longer going to sit on the sidelines. They’re going to make police officers face federal justice.”
