Santana, the man who filmed the footage of the shooting, told reporters that he had initially considered erasing the video from his cell phone because he feared for his safety for having it, and was worried that the police would retaliate. But, when he read the officer’s statement on the details of the case in the news, and knew his video told a different story, he decided to turn it over to the family.

The family expressed thanks for the video. The family’s attorney told reporters,  “What if there was no video? What if there was no witness? Where would we be without that video.” Family believes that without the video, the courts would have relied on the police report provided by Slager and he would not have been charged.

Slager was the subject of a previous, brief internal investigation by the North Charleston Police Department over an incident in 2013, where it was reported that he had tazed another subject after responding to a call.

In an interview with the Associated Press, the man tazed in that incident, Mario Givens, told the reporter that he had been awakened by a knock at the door before dawn in September of that year. When he went to the door and answered it, Officer Slager was on the doorstep. Slager informed Givens that he wanted to come in, but did not explain why he felt he needed to, Givens said. Slager pushed his way in and told Givens to come outside or he would be tazed. Givens said when he heard that, he put his arms up over his head not wanting that to happen. But Slager would taze him in the stomach anyway reporters were told by Givens.

The person who had initially called 911 resulting in the visit to the Given’s residence, had reported that she had been awakened by her ex-boyfriend, the brother of Givens, when he appeared in her room uninvited early that morning. When awakened, she said she had screamed at which point her ex-boyfriend, Matt Givens, left the residence. After he departed, she called 911.

That woman, Maleah Kiara Brown, gave a description of the ex-boyfriend to police, and followed as they went to the residence.  She reported that Givens had been polite when he answered the door that morning, then saw Slager push his way in. She informed the officers that they had the wrong man.

After Givens was tazed inside the residence, Slager and another officer drug Givens from the home into the dirt outside, Brown said that she yelled repeatedly that the man that they were subduing was not the man they were looking for, but Slager proceeded to taze Givens again, as they were handcuffing him Brown would also report.

Givens was charged with resisting arrest, but was later released with no charges filed.

The following day, Givens would go to the station and file a complaint. Several of the neighbors, who saw the incident in the front yard of the Given’s residence, also called in. The department refused to take statements from them, they say.

Brown also submitted a statement of the events that occurred included the tazing that took place. But, Brown would say that the tazing would be excluded from the report, and she was never contacted during the following internal investigation. That investigation would be concluded a short time later with the exoneration of Slager.

Givens told reporters that he was never contacted during the investigation and, would only find out that it was concluded when he went to the station a month and a half later to inquire about it. The North Charleston Police Department says that it is now going to re-open that case to determine if they were correct in their decision to exonerate Slager.

After the release of the shooting video to the public, Slager was immediately removed from the force, charged with murder and placed under arrest. If revealed that the object moved to the body of Scott was indeed the taser, Slager will also face charges of Tampering with Physical Evidence. Slager faces the possibility of the death penalty if proven guilty.

He is currently being held without bail.

Below, readers can view the footage as uploaded by the New York Times to YouTube.

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  michael slager, murder, north charleston, santana, shooting, video, walter scott