Witness says he almost deleted video of US police officer shooting man in back 8 times
Without his video, US police officer Michael Slager wouldn't have been charged with murder.
The world wouldn't have known the truth behind Mr Walter Scott's death – that Slager shot the unarmed man in the back eight times without even giving any warning.
But witness Feidin Santana, 23, had initially considered deleting his video.
He told MSNBC: "I won't deny that I knew the magnitude of this, and I even thought about erasing the video.
"I felt that my life, with this information, might be in danger."
10 News reported that other witnesses in similar situations have claimed to have suffered retributions afterward.
'This is not what happened'
Mr Santana turned it over to the brother of 50-year-old Mr Scott only after reading a police report about the incident and hearing it on the news.
"It wasn't like that, the way they were saying," he told MSNBC. "I said, 'No ... this is not what happened.'"
Slager, who had stopped Mr Scott because of a broken tail light, had claimed he shot Mr Scott because he feared for his life after the man took his taser.
Michael Slager. Photo: Reuters
But the footage showed a different story.
In it, Mr Scott is seen fleeing with his back to Slager. Slager then takes his gun out and shoots Mr Scott eight times.
Mr Santana told NBC News: "Before I started recording, they were down on the floor. I remember the police (officer) had control of the situation.
"He had control of Scott. And Scott was trying just to get away from the taser. But like I said, he never used the taser against the cop.
"As you can see in the video, the police officer just shot him in the back."
Slager, 33, was charged with murder on Tuesday (April 7) and is being held in jail without bond.
Sources: NBC News, 10 News
Related report:
WATCH: Police officer shoots fleeing man in the back 8 times; charged with murder
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