Video captured 2014 Taser shooting involving S.C. officer Michael Slager
Lawsuit alleges suspect wasn’t a threat when he was shot in the back
Allegations of excessive force used on minorities are mounting against the South Carolina police officer recently caught on video fatally shooting unarmed suspect Walter Scott in the back.
Julius Garnett Wilson alleges in a new lawsuit that he was tased by officer Michael Slager last August while lying face-down on the pavement.
The North Charleston police officer, who is white, was terminated and charged with murder last week after a bystander’s video captured him firing eight shots at Scott after a traffic stop. The 50-year-old unarmed black man was running from the officer when he was struck four times in the back and once in the ear. He was buried on Saturday.
The case has brought protests to North Charleston, where some residents say minorities have been unfairly targeted for decades.
On Monday, Wilson and his attorneys met with reporters on the steps of city hall to hand out copies of their lawsuit and police dashboard video of the alleged abuse.
“In my lifetime, I have witnessed violent acts by police officers,” Wilson, a 35-year-old with a prior criminal record, told reporters. “Without proof of such acts, the word of police officers is always taken over the word of the victims forced to endure their violent acts.”
Slager is among three patrolmen named as defendants in the suit along with the city of North Charleston, the police department and police chief Eddie Driggers.
According to the lawsuit, Wilson was headed to work about 4 a.m. on Aug. 25, 2014, when Officer Brad Woods stopped him for a bad brake light.
Wilson contends that he presented Woods with a valid Georgia driver’s license, but that while checking his background, the officer called for backup.
After about 10 minutes, Slager joined Woods, who went to Wilson’s door and asked him to step out of the car to discuss his suspended South Carolina driver’s license. Wilson said he initially refused because he had a valid Georgia license.
“Turn over or you’re going to get it again.” lorem ipsum — Officer Michael Slager
When Wilson didn’t comply, Woods told the driver he was under arrest but didn’t say why.
“What am I being put under arrest for, officer?” he asked as the patrolmen began to forcibly pull him from behind the wheel.
As the struggle ensued, Slager yelled that Wilson was reaching for something in the car. Woods then drew his gun and pointed it at Wilson for about five seconds until Wilson let go of the steering wheel and lay face-down on his stomach. (On Monday, Wilson told reporters in Charleston that he was reaching for his cellphone and stopped resisting when Woods brandished the .45-caliber Glock.)
Officer Jerome Clemens then joined to help pin Wilson down. According to the lawsuit, Wilson had his hands about his head, palms facing down against the pavement, and was not resisting.
Clemens and Woods have their knees buried into Wilson and are trying to handcuff him when Slager, standing above them all, orders his colleagues to look out.
“Back up,” Slager yells. “I’m going to tase!”
He then shouts “Taser, Taser” before hitting Wilson in the back at point-blank range.
“Ow! Shit!” Wilson exclaims on the video.
The lawsuit alleges he then withers in pain as Slager threatens him with another round of high voltage.
“Turn over or you’re going to get it again,” Slager says on the video.
Slager’s personnel files released by the department last week show he was trained to carry a Taser X26. The gun discharges 50,000 volts and can immobilize someone up to 15 feet away, according to the manufacturer.
The lawsuit says Wilson was offered medical treatment at the scene, but that he declined to get out of the patrol car because of “Slager’s continued threats.”
On the video, Woods can be heard telling his supervisor that Wilson “almost got shot” because he resisted and “started reaching for something in the center console.”
A charge against Wilson of driving with a suspended license was dropped, but he pleaded guilty to resisting arrest. His attorneys, however, deny that he ever posed a threat to the officers.
Wilson’s suit comes after attorney Mario Givens, 34, announced last week that they planned to sue NCPD and Slager. In that case, which was not captured on video, Givens alleges Slager shot him with a Taser after mistaking him for someone else in 2013. Givens, who is black, complained to the department, but no action was taken against the officer.
On Monday, Wilson’s attorneys rejected the notion of piling on.
“The fact that there’s a pattern of abuse by this officer gives more credence to the lawsuit than just this isolated event in a vacuum,” Nick Clekis told the New York Times. “It’s not for us being an opportunist. It’s that the events have given us an opportunity.”
Jason Sickles is a reporter for Yahoo News. Follow him on Twitter (@jasonsickles).
