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A grand Jury in North Carolina indicted former police officer Michael Slager on a murder charge Monday in the fatal shooting of Walter Scott.
The 50-year-old former U.S. Coast Guard was killed in April when Slager shot him in the back as he fled from a traffic stop.
Slager was charged with murder on after a video surfaced showing him shooting Scott eight times in the back, however the indictment was not handed down until today. If convicted, Slager faces the possibility of life in prison.
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On April 4, 2015, Slager stopped Scott for diving with a non-functioning brake light in in North Charleston, South Carolina. Scott exited his car and fled before Slager shot him several times in the back.
The 33-year-old officer was fired from the North Charleston police force one day after the video of the shooting emerged. Authorities determined that the video was contradicting his earlier police report, in which he said had feared for his life because Scott had taken his gun.
The case adds to a series of similar incidents of white police officers killing unarmed black men over the past year in the United States. The events, including the killing of Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, have sparked nationwide protests, as well as a fierce debate over racism in policing.
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