Walter Scott case: Michael Slager released from jail

Former North Charleston Police Officer Michael Slager speaks during a hearing in front of Judge Clifton Newman in Charleston, S.C., Monday, Jan. 4, 2016.

Michael Slager, the North Charleston, South Carolina, cop who killed Walter Scott as he was running away – all dramatically captured on chilling cell-phone video – was freed on bond Monday night after a judge expressed concerns that it was taking too long to bring him to trial. The former police officer was arrested in April 2015.

Slager, a former North Charleston police officer, is shown on cellphone video firing eight times as Scott ran from a traffic stop.

Scott’s death was shown around the world and he became a symbol of the ongoing debate over police shootings of unarmed African-Americans.

Scott’s family is disappointed and “believes at the end of the day that justice will prevail”, family attorney Justin Bamberg said shortly after Monday’s ruling to release Slager. Circuit Judge Clifton Newman had denied Slager’s bond request in September, saying his release would pose an “unreasonable danger to the community”. “Under a surety bond, he would have to pay $50,000 of that total”, it added. Slager has said he feared that Scott, who was unarmed and died at the scene, had a gun.

A Charleston County sheriff’s spokesman has confirmed that Michael Slager, the former North Charleston police officer charged with murder in the shooting of a black motorist has posted bond and has been released from custody.

The case drew national attention previous year after a video of the incident surfaced.

Savage said he was prepared to go to court this spring. A defense attorney cited Slager’s celiac disease that has worsened with a jail diet containing gluten.

Slager’s trial will be delayed because Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson is also the lead prosecutor in the trial of alleged Emanuel AME Church shooter Dylann Roof, which is scheduled to take place this summer.

Judge Newman said, “These are hard issues; these are excruciating issues for a court to have to consider”.

But Scott’s words would not be enough to sway Judge Newman, who said he was troubled by the delay of Slager’s trial and the length of the defendant’s incarceration prior to his court date.

Civil rights activists are planning to meet with reporters to discuss the release on bond of a former SC police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black motorist. Members of Scott’s family gasped in court when the decision was announced. “Thank you”, said Slager. Urges community to stay calm. His attorney, Andy Savage, asked that no one be given knowledge of where Slager and his family will be staying while they wait for trial.

Monday’s hearing, though, centered on the bail issue.

Joe Savitz, a criminal defense attorney in Columbia, said he wasn’t surprised that Slager was granted the opportunity to get out of jail, given the major events – like the shooting deaths of nine black churchgoers in Charleston and the ensuing debate over the Confederate flag – that have happened in the months since his arrest.

Slager’s lawyers argued keeping him in jail until October without a trial was as if he were being punished for a crime he had not been convicted of.