--- title: "Police Officer Gets 20 Years For Shooting Unarmed Coast Guard Veteran" date: "2017-12-07" modified: "2017-12-07" authors: - name: "Jared Keller" job_title: "Former Managing Editor" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller/" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/walter-scott-michael-slager-coast-guard/" categories: - "Around the World" - "Coast Guard" - "Military Branches" - "News" - "United States" tags: - "Black Community" - "justice" - "scandals" --- # Police Officer Gets 20 Years For Shooting Unarmed Coast Guard Veteran ![]() The white North Charleston, South Carolina police officer who shot and killed an unarmed African-American [Coast Guard]() vet in April 2015 was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Dec. 7, the New York Times [reports](). Officer Michael Slager, 36, shot and killed Walter Scott when the latter exited his car and fled on foot during a daytime traffic stop. Slager unsuccessfully tried to stop Scott with his taser, which turned into a scuffle, and as he tried to flee again, Slager shot Scott eight times in the back. [Eyewitness video]() of the incident quickly viral, shining a national spotlight on the case. The video, which showed Slager unloading at Scott from some 15 feet away, revealed that the officer [lied]() on his subsequent police report about the circumstances of Scott’s shooting, including his assertion that officers performed CPR and applied first aid on Scott as he lay face-down on the ground; though Scott’s toxicology report [revealed]() cocaine and alcohol in his system, family [said]() he likely fled due to fears over an arrest warrant over late child-support payments. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKQqgVlk0NQ Slager [pleaded guilty]() in May to violating Scott’s civil rights, stating during his plea hearing that he “used deadly force even though it was objectively unreasonable under the circumstances,” [according]() to the New York Times. Scott, who was 50 at the time of his death, served two years with the U.S. Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay south of Baltimore, Maryland. According to the Baltimore Sun, Scott [served]() as a fireman apprentice after enlisting in 1984, focused on the operation and maintenance of a vessels’ electrical and propulsion systems; two years later, he was involuntarily separated through a general discharge “due to a drug-related offense." Ironically, Slager himself worked as a fireman in the Coast Guard: The Baltimore Sun [notes]() that he enlisted in January 2003 and served at Coast Guard Station Cape Canaveral until his discharge exactly six years later in 2009. But [according]() to the service records [provided]() by the Coast Guard shortly after the shooting in April 2015, Slager separated as junior enlisted, suggesting his rank remained stagnant during his tenure with the branch. Related: 15 Reasons The Coast Guard Is Completely Underrated » "It's possible he got rated and then through nonjudicial punishment or court-martial was reduced in rate back to E-3, but that is just speculation," retired Coast Guard Capt. Jim Howe [told]() Navy Times, adding that, despite the possibility of an NJP or medical setback, Slager’s career appeared “very curious.” The shooting, which occurred less than a year after the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York, sparked a national debate over the violence white police officers use against African-Americans after [eyewitness videos]() of the incidents went viral. In those two cases, the police officers involved in the incidents were [cleared of wrongdoing]() despite raw video evidence that suggests otherwise, stoking [frustration]() over police accountability and unconscious racial bias in the legal system. Scott's death serves as "a grim reminder of the urgent need for criminal justice reform,” National Association for the Advancement of Colored People President Cornell William Brooks [told]() the Baltimore Sun shortly after the shooting. "Scott was a father of four and a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard whose life was senselessly cut short due to a tragic encounter with the police.” **WATCH NEXT:** ## Author Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications. ### Author social links [Twitter]() [Facebook]() [LinkedIn]() [Instagram]()