South Carolina Cop Shot Black Man for No Apparent Reason

In a Sept. 4 incident captured by a police cruiser’s dashboard camera, a South Carolina state trooper fired and apparently hit a black man who was complying with the officer’s request to retrieve and hand over his driver’s license.

AlterNet narrates the event as seen in the video as follows:

South Carolina state trooper Sean Groubert approaches Levar Jones as Jones gets out of his car at a gas station. Groubert asks to see Jones’ license, and Jones turns around to retrieve it from his car. Groubert starts yelling, “Get out of the car, get out of the car,” and opens fire, shooting at Jones four times, and striking him at least once, reportedly, in the hip.

All of four seconds had passed before Groubert escalated a routine traffic stop (he says for a seatbelt violation) to what could have been a deadly use of force.

Much of the three-minute-plus video has Jones off camera repeatedly stating that he was simply following Groubert’s order and asking why the officer shot him. The BBC reports that Groubert has been fired, arrested and charged with “assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.” A conviction carries a possible prison sentence of 20 years. Jones is reportedly recovering and out of the hospital.

The State Newspaper:

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly