South Carolina Police Officer receives the longest prison sentence in US History, 20 years for shoot

Two and a half years after the video taped death of Walter Scott was viewed by millions through online video, the shooter and ex police officer Michael Slager was sentenced to serve twenty years in prison. The judge handed T him the sentence on thursday and will be one of the longest served sentences for a police officer in history who was involved in a fatal shooting. The Defense said He committed murder when he shot Scott eight times as the black motorist ran away. They also said that he also misled investigators and lied during court testimony, the judge determined.

Scott’s family and friends who have been fighting for justice with the overbearing police system in North Charleston said justice had been served. Statistics show that police officers are rarely arrested in fatal shootings that they are involved in and is a product of how much corruption the law gives them in justifying deadly force and murder. Even more they are hardly convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms for the crimes they have committed, which was apparent when Slager's state murder trial last year ended with a hung jury and had to be moved to a new court system. The sentence was at the high end of what attorneys for the Scott family had envisioned. Some of Scotts friends and family feared the cop would be let off with a small sentence but were happy that the judge sentenced him on the high end.

Slager was patrolling one of North Charleston’s most hardened communities on April 4, 2015 when he stopped Scott’s car for a broken brake light. The police had long used minor traffic stops to check on residents and look for greater crimes afoot.This stop was ordinary until Scott, 50, jumped out and ran. Slager gave chase and tried to stop him with a Taser.But the officer said Scott fought him and grabbed the stun gun, turning the weapon against him. As they rose from the ground, Slager said he feared what Scott might do. He pulled his pistol and fired.

The bystander who video taped the incident, Feidin Santana’s video showed the Taser bouncing behind the officer, though it offered no clear view of who had been holding it. Scott is running away at the first gunshot and is still running at the eighth, which brought him down. Five of the bullets had hit him from behind.The authorities said Scott was just trying to get away, never violently resisting the officer’s attempt to arrest him.Slager’s defense lawyers argued the evidence showed a fight that put the officer’s life in danger. But he should have halted his gunfire as Scott ran farther and farther away, they said. Reports post and courier. Do you think he should do more time??