Walter Scott Shooting: Officer Slager Says on Recording His Adrenaline Is 'Pumping'
— -- A South Carolina police officer recorded on video fatally shooting a man can be heard on dash camera audio afterwards agreeing with another officer that his adrenaline was "pumping."
Then-Officer Michael Slager's comments to the other officer after the shooting were captured on audio taken from a police car.
The April 4 shooting that left Walter Scott dead was recorded by a witness on a cell phone. The North Charleston mayor said the recording played an influential role in the decision to fire Slager and charge him with murder.
The latest dash cam recording, which was released by an investigating body, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), makes the interaction between Slager and the responding officer public.
"You're going to be off for a couple days, and we'll come back and interview you then," the officer tells Slager.
"I’d probably, when you get home, it would probably be a good idea to jot down your thoughts of what happened," the officer says. "Once you, once the adrenaline quits pumping and stuff--"
"It's pumping," Slager seems to say, followed by what sounds like a nervous laugh, while the other officer says, “Oh yeah, oh yeah.”
Slager has not yet had to enter a plea and his attorney has declined to publicly comment on the case, except to say that they are conducting their own investigation into the incident.
This dash cam recording is one in a series that has been released publicly by SLED, though this is the first where Slager is audible. Other dash cam footage shows the traffic stop itself and Scott starting to flee. Another shows a different officer speaking to and patting down a passenger who had been in Scott's car, and one recording shows Slager and another officer near Scott's body.
