A random connection has emerged between a black South Carolina man shot dead by a police officer on Saturday as he was running away in a horrific incident caught on video by an eyewitness, according to ABC News.
North Charleston cop Michael Slager, 33, and Walter Scott, 50, both served in the U.S. Coast Guard years before Slager allegedly discharged his weapon eight times as Scott was trying to escape following a traffic stop.
Slager, who was charged with murder on Tuesday, served in the Coast Guard from 2003 until he was honorably discharged in 2009 and became a police officer, a Coast Guard spokesman told ABC News.
Scott served years before, from 1984 to 1986, a connection first revealed by the victim's brother late Tuesday.
"Out of my brothers, he was the most outgoing out of all of us," Anthony Scott said, according to the station. "He knew everybody. He knew family I didn't know, he had friends I didn't know. He was well known in the community, everywhere."
Scott, a father of four, involuntarily left the Coast Guard due to a drug offense, but he was generally discharged under honorable conditions. The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to request for comment on Slager's time in the service.
The officer encountered Scott on Saturday when he pulled him over due to a broken taillight, according to the New York Daily News. Scott took off on foot, which may be due to outstanding arrest warrants he had for unpaid child support, according to his family's lawyer.
Slager ran after the unarmed man and told his department the two struggled over his Taser before he shot Scott, the Daily News reported. But according to the cellphone video recorded by Feidin Santana, Slager pointed his gun at the man as he took off. Scott collapsed to the ground as a bullet struck his back.
"He had control of Scott," Santana told the "Today" show as he recalled the officer's actions. "And Scott was trying just to get away from the Taser. But like I said, he never used the Taser against the cop."
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating the shooting. Slager, who has a child on the way, remains held without bail.
