A white police officer in South Carolina, Michael Thomas Slager, was charged with murder for killing an African American man this past weekend during a routine traffic stop.
The decision comes after nationwide protests following officers like the one who killed Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York and another who killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, getting off without being charged.
Washington Post reports the leading factor in Slager’s arrest was a video released from a witness, who taped Slager shooting at Walter Scott from behind as he ran away.
“It wasn’t just based on the officers’ word anymore. People were believing this story,” Chris Stewart, Scott’s family’s attorney, said.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights division, the South Carolina U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI will all be investigating the incident further.
Slager was arrested and fired from his job and faces a possible life sentence or death penalty.