Feidin Santana, a Dominican resident of South Carolina, has come out this week as the man who filmed the murder of Walter Scott. Scott, a 50 year-old North Charleston resident died at the hands of Police Officer Michael T. Slager. Walter Scott was stopped in traffic on April 4th by the police officer before the situation became violent. Walter was stunned by a taser gun, and as he tried to get away, was shot 8 times in the back by the Officer Slager. Slager then proceeded to place the taser gun near Scott’s body and handcuffed him as he lay dying.
This was all shot on a phone camera by Santana, who was walking to work when the altercation occurred. Santana handed the video over to Scott’s family, who gave it to prosecutors in the case. Since the video leaked this past Tuesday (4/7/2015), Slager’s attorney David Aylor has dropped him as a client. Slager is currently being held in custody and is being charged with murder.
Feidin Santana is being heralded as a hero; his video provides necessary counter-evidence to the initial police reports claiming that Walter fought the police officer for his Taser, supposedly warranting the use of deadly force. But the video came close to being erased; the 23 year-old Santana said he almost deleted it out of fear. “I … thought about erasing the video,” Santana told MSNBC Wednesday evening. “I felt that my life, with this information, might be in danger.”
“I know the cop didn’t do … the right thing. And like I say, I feel kind of scared about that,” he added.
Watch Feidin Santana’s interview with USA Today below: