Police officer faces murder charge in death of black man: South Carolina

A white South Carolina police officer was arrested and accused of murder on Tuesday when a video showed him shooting eight times at the back of a 50 year old black man who was running away after a traffic stop and died at the scene.

The FBI and the U.S. Justice Department started a separate investigation into the lethal shooting, which is the latest turning point in a series of incidents that have listed questions about policing and race relations across the country.

Many Civil Rights leaders on social media said the official response would have been very different, had the incident not been recorded by a member of the public who then handed the video to the victim’s family.

The shooting took place on Saturday morning after officer Michael Slager, stopped Walter Scott for a broken brake light, police said.