The man responsible for recording and leaking footage of Walter Scott‘s shooting and murder at the hands of a South Carolina officer, Michael Slager, has gone public.
Feidin Santana, 23, spoke to NBC’s Lester Holt of NBC’s Nightly News, on Wednesday, about his brave decision to record and release footage of the tragic shooting and now going public.
Via NBC News
The bystander who captured on video a white police officer shooting an apparently unarmed black man in the back in South Carolina thought about erasing the recording over fears of retaliation.
The video recorded by Feidin Santana shocked the nation when it was released this week. The footage resulted in Officer Michael Slager, 33, being arrested and charged with murder Tuesday for the shooting death of Walter Scott, 50, after a traffic stop in North Charleston Saturday.
“I won’t deny that I knew the magnitude of this, and I even thought about erasing the video,” Santana said in an interview on MSNBC’s “All In With Chris Hayes” Wednesday.
“I felt that my life with this information might be in danger. I thought about erasing the video and just getting out of the community, you know Charleston, and living some place else,” the 23-year-old said. “I knew the cop didn’t to the right thing.”
Earlier Wednesday, Santana revealed himself as the videographer to “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt in his first interview since the shooting, and said Slager and Scott did struggle before the encounter turned deadly. But he said the officer did not appear to be in danger when he opened fire.
“Before I started recording, they were down on the floor. I remember the police [officer] had control of the situation,” Santana said. “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,” Santana said. “I knew right away, I had something on my hands.”
Many now wonder if Santana’s decision to reveal himself was a smart one.
What are your thoughts sweethearts, should Feidin Santana now be concerned for his own safety?
