Witness to South Carolina fatal shooting fears for safety
The man who recorded a police officer shooting Walter L. Scott says he fears for his own safety since he was identified as the person who videotaped what happened.
Feidin Santana told NBC's "Today" show on Thursday that people now know where he lives and works. He says he considered staying anonymous for a time.
Santana says "lives changed in a matter of seconds" when he recorded the shooting on his way to work.
His attorney, Todd Rutherford, appeared on the show with him. Rutherford says Santana is afraid, noting the first thing he asked Thursday morning was, "How can I get protection?"
Rutherford says Santana never saw the officers perform CPR or other life-saving measures.
An official from the Charleston, South Carolina, branch of the NAACP says he is not surprised by the police response to a prior allegation of excessive force against the white officer who shot a black man in the back as he fled after a traffic stop.
Click here to see the raw video (Warning: Graphic.)
The complaint against Michael Slager involved Mario Givens, another black man. Givens says the officer came to his house in September 2013, pushed in the door, and hit him in the stomach with a stun gun. Givens says he was unarmed, and he filed a complaint. Slager remained on the force.
The Rev. Joseph Darby, vice president of the Charleston branch of the NAACP, says that the group has seen similar complaints throughout the years, but that they are usually taken lightly and seemed to be dismissed without much investigation.
Darby says that if the North Charleston department had done a full investigation into the 2013 incident, maybe Saturday's shooting of Walter L. Scott would have turned out differently.
Slager is charged with murder and has been fired.
The North Charleston Police Department says it will now review the complaint involving Givens again.
