Michael Slager: murder trial of police officer who shot unarmed black man in the back opens in Charleston

Slager fired at 50-year-old Walter Scott as Scott fled a traffic stop in April 2015

Slager, who is 34, has pleaded not guilty and faces life in prison if convicted ((AP))

The murder trial of a white former South Carolina police officer who shot an unarmed black man in the back has opened in Charleston. Michael Slager fired eight shots at Walter Scott, hitting him five times and killing him, as Scott fled a traffic stop on 4 April 2015.

Mobile phone footage of the shooting captured by a witness led to Slager being fired from the police department and charged with murder three days later. Slager, 34, has pleaded not guilty and faces life in prison if convicted.

The video of the incident emerged amid widespread protests over the police killings of unarmed black men in other US cities including Ferguson and New York, and days before the death in police custody of Freddie Gray in Baltimore.

According to the Washington Post, there were 990 fatal police shootings in 2015; Slager was one of only 10 officers subsequently charged with a crime. His lawyers say the video did not show the full incident, and that Slager felt threatened after Scott grabbed his Taser in a tussle.

Slager stopped Scott, 50, for driving with a broken rear brake light. When Scott ran away, Slager pursued him on foot and, he claimed, hit him twice with the stun gun before Scott grabbed and then dropped it. The officer was acting in self-defence when he shot Scott, his lawyers said.

The city of North Charleston has settled a civil lawsuit with Scott’s family for $6.5m. Slager has also been slapped with several federal charges including violating civil rights laws. His defence lawyers have complained he is being “double-teamed” by state and federal prosecutors.

“The double-teaming of Slager,” they wrote in a recent court filing obtained by the Post and Courier, “is a chilling example of how far politically motivated politicians and prosecutors will go to seek headlines and feather their own nests at the expense of a public servant.”

Slager’s defence team urged Judge Clifton Newman to move the trial to another city, saying the possibility of protests and adverse media coverage could prejudice the jury, whom the judge has declined to sequester so that jurors can vote on election day, 8 November.

The trial began on Monday with jury selection. On 7 November, the trial of white supremacist Dylann Roof, who shot dead nine black churchgoers in Charleston in June 2015, is set to begin at the federal courthouse across the street.