Man Who Videoed S.C. Cop Shooting: I Thought My Life ‘Might Be In Danger’

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Feidin Santana, the witness whose video led to murder charges against a South Carolina police officer, spoke out on Wednesday for the first time since the incident and said that he was so scared he thought about deleting his recording.

“I even thought about erasing the video,” he said during an interview on MSNBC with Craig Melvin. “I felt that my life, with this information, might be in danger.”

Santana told Melvin that he originally approached the police with the video of the shooting, but ultimately decided to hand the footage over to the victim’s family.

Santana said he saw the police report after the incident, and said he didn’t think the police portrayed the shooting accurately, prompting him to come forward with the footage.

North Charleston, S.C., police officer Michael Thomas Slager was charged with murder on Tuesday after Santana’s video was released. The video appears to show Slager shooting unarmed black man Walter Scott in the back as the man ran away. According to police, Slager said that he felt threatened by Scott and that Scott had tried to grab his stun gun.

Santana explained that he saw Slager chasing Scott on his way to work. Santana said he saw Slager used his stun gun on Scott, but did not record that on his phone.

He also said that he did not see Slager perform CPR on Scott. North Charleston police were not positive whether Slager or another police officer tried to perform CPR on Scott after he was shot.

During an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, Santana said he thought Slager “made a bad decision.”

“Mr. Scott didn’t deserve this,” Santana said.

Watch the interview with Melvin via MSNBC:

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: