US officer reveals 'adrenaline rush' in minutes after Walter Scott shooting
A voice recording has emerged of a white police officer telling a senior officer that he felt emotionally charged in the moments after he fired a fatal shot at a fleeing black man in the US.
Michael Slager, 33, appeared to laugh nervously as he admitted he had experienced a rush of adrenaline in the minutes following the shooting of Coast Guard veteran, Walter Scott.
The footage was recorded by the dashcam in the officer's patrol car, and included a discussion between Slager and a senior officer, following the shooting in North Charleston on April 5.
An audio recording of their conversation was obtained by the Guardian and uploaded to Soundcloud
"By the time you get home, it would probably be a good idea to kind of jot down your thoughts on what happened," the senior officer, whose identity is not known, said.
"You know, once the adrenaline quits pumping."
"It's pumping," Slager replied, appearing to laugh nervously.
The senior officer replied, "Oh yeah. Oh Yeah."
The officer told Slager to go home and relax during the conversation, assuring him that he would not have to explain the shooting for days.
The dashcam footage of Scott being pulled over by Slager was released to the media on Thursday. The camera continued to record for another hour and captured the conversation between Slager and the senior officer, footage obtained by Guardian US.
The dashcam also partly recorded a phone conversation Slager received about five minutes before his discussion with the senior officer.
"Hey. Hey everything's OK?" Slager can be heard saying.
He then appeared to say: "He grabbed my taser, yeah. Yeah, he was running from me."
Slager, 33, whose wife is eight months pregnant with their first child, has been charged with murder after he was filmed allegedly shooting Scott, 50, repeatedly in the back after a scuffle that began with a traffic stop for a broken tail light.
An unidentified passer-by recorded the chilling incident, in which Scott is seen being shot as he tried to run from Slager, then is handcuffed as he lay fatally wounded. The phone video contradicts an initial police report which suggested Scott had fled with Slager's taser.
Slager was charged with murder earlier this month, and could face a sentence of up to life in prison or the death penalty.
News break - April 13
