South Carolina Police Officer's Mom Speaks Out in Tearful Interview
— -- The mother of the South Carolina police officer who is seen in a video fatally shooting a man said that she cannot bring herself to watch the video.
"I just can't," Karen Sharpe, the mother of now-fired Police Officer Michael Slager, told ABC News. "Maybe to some people, 'Well, you're being in denial,' but I'm sorry I just can't. I just I know how Michael is."
Slager, 33, was arrested Tuesday and charged with the murder of Walter Scott, 50, in North Charleston on Saturday morning after Slager pulled Scott over due to a broken tail-light, authorities said. A witness recorded the encounter between the two men and Slager is seen firing eight shots at Scott as he runs away from the officer.
Sharpe said that her son "loved being a police officer" and she is struggling to hold their family together. Slager's wife is eight months pregnant and Sharpe told ABC News that she had to accompany her daughter-in-law to an appointment with her doctor as a substitute for her son now that he is in jail.
"He has a little baby on the way, due next month, and they worked so hard for this baby," Sharpe said. "I know he would go to all the appointments, all the OB appointments, and he had to miss it today."
"She was just so sad because he was not there and I know that he would not do something purposeful to not be able to be with his wife during the delivery. They just tried so hard for this," Sharpe said.
In an emotional interview Thursday afternoon, Sharpe said that she has been praying for the Scott family.
"Their life will never be the same again and my life will never be the same again," Sharpe said. "Even though they're not the same things that have happened, I know there are changes in both their family and my family ... and that's the part that bothers me. They've changed forever,"
"I just have to let it be and hope God takes care of everybody involved -- not only my family but the Scott's family -- because I know they're grieving just like I'm grieving," she said.
“Nobody likes to see their child sitting in prison," Sharpe said. "You don’t think it is something that will ever happen to you, but I have to just believe that... I just have to believe that everything will work out."
Sharpe said that she could not think about the possible death sentence facing her son, and denied that race was a factor in the shooting.
"It is very hard because it has never been a racial thing. He was not grown up that way. He was not taught that. I don’t — it is not a racial thing," Sharpe said.
"He was doing a job, he was doing what he thought he needed to do so that’s the way I needed to look at it," she said.
Slager has yet to enter a plea. Over the weekend, Slager was represented by attorney David Aylor, who gave a statement saying that Slager "followed all the proper procedures and policies” but Aylor resigned after the video was released on Tuesday and confirmed to ABC News that he is no longer representing Slager.
During a call to dispatch immediately after the shooting on Saturday morning, Slager said: "Shots fired and the subject is down, he took my taser," according to the police incident report.
