Slager or Scott: Who Threw The Taser?
Expert opinion and the appeal of Michael Slager
If Walter Scott threw the taser: an appeal is valid and Michael Slager probably won’t serve 20 years.
In the days, weeks and months following the shooting of Walter Scott: I created Reddit’s most commented GIF, acquired the raw cellphone video via Scott’s attorney, and fell down a rabbit hole of unreported details.
My journey was documented by the CBC. The film won several awards, was taught in schools and was even shortlisted for Oscar. In short, I dehumanised a police officer then humanised him and it struck a chord.
With the original eyewitness video I was able to see and hear what others couldn’t. Verbal warnings, the path of the taser and a slew of other apocrypha. With some guidance from a world-class forensics firm (who wishes to remain anonymous), I applied a technique called ‘reverse projection photogrammetry’ to do a 3D reconstruction.
My analysis was never used in court. Slager’s lawyer hired another 3D reconstruction expert who used the same software and similar methods and came to a similar conclusion that the taser must have been thrown by Scott.
“He grabbed my taser”
The argument over who threw the taser is not meant to diminish the fact that Scott was killed. It does inform the pubic on whether or not Slager was lying when, immediately after shooting, he radioed in “shots fired, subject is down, he grabbed my taser.”
After synchronising dispatch audio with all known sources of video I had to contend with the fact that the scorned officer was being honest.
Dropped
When the eyewitness video hit the news three days after the shooting, the Chief of Police said at a press conference “I was sickened by what I saw. And I have not watched it since.” (8 April 2015)
Slager was removed from the police force and his lawyer at the time dropped him within hours of seeing the video because, in part, Slager’s insurance wouldn’t foot the bill.
Reports, including the aforementioned Reddit GIF, made a point of mentioning that ‘an object’ was placed beside Scott. The implication being that Slager was filmed planting evidence. This was a truncated version of reality.
The cellphone video shows Slager jogging back to where he fired the shots, picking up the taser then, as another officer arrives to the scene, drops it beside the body of Scott. About 45 seconds later, Slager picks up the taser and holsters it. Why? Slager told investigators, prior to knowledge of the video, he did not want to “leave a weapon laying around. The Judge’s sentencing order explains “that Slager may have picked up the taser to secure the scene as instructed by his South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy training.”
Killing v. Murder
The first trial ended in a hung jury. Five months later, Slager pled guilty to a second charge under the condition that the state murder charges, as well as two other charges, would be dropped. The sentence for ‘Deprivation of Rights under the Colour of Law’ carries a sentence of ‘any term of years’ determined by a Judge without a jury. The gamble, I suppose, is that a Judge would be more favourable than a jury.
The Judge sentenced Slager to 20 years.
The Judge’s sentencing order “credits Santana’s eyewitness account […] that at no point did Scott have the taser in his hands,” over the expert's “conclusion that the taser came from Scott’s hand.”
It’s not over yet.
(This article was updated January 29, 2017 to add details about why Slager picked up the taser.)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Daniel Voshart works as an intern architect integrating a VR workflow into both residential and commercial projects. Forensic VR is a platform for his work in forensic consulting.
