Voting Station

Michael Slager

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Murderer

The Resume

    (November 14, 1981- )
    Michael Thomas Slager
    Former North Charleston Police Officer and Patrolman (2010-15)
    Shot and killed 50 year-old Walter Scott during a daytime traffic stop for a non-functioning brake light (April 4, 2015)
    Arrested and charged with murder after a cell-phone video surfaced contradicting his initial police report claiming to have felt 'threatened'
    Released footage showed him shooting the unarmed Scott from behind while Scott was fleeing
    Indicted by a South Carolina grand jury on murder charges; later released on bond (June, 2015)
    Murder trial ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury (October 16-December 5,2016)

Why he might be annoying:

    He has a history of 'tasing without adequate cause' incidents on his sheet.
    One specific instance saw him slam, drag, and stun a home resident who had reported a burglary 'because he wouldn't come outside' (although some claimed he mistook the resident for the robber).
    He released a statement after killing Walter Scott that he 'feared for his life' and 'felt threatened' because Scott had attempted to grab his taser.
    This defense fell apart completely after cell phone footage showed him shooting Scott in the back without warning. Scott sustained five gunshots, two of them fatal.
    The video appears to show him planting his stun gun near Walter Scott's body to make it seem as though he really did 'grab for the taser.'
    The bystander who shot the video, Feidin Santana, came forward saying that Slager had been 'in control of the situation' and that Scott had been attempting to avoid being tased rather than to 'take the taser away' (the video begins only as he runs away, making it unclear at first glance).
    The public outcry following the video's release, spurred by Black Lives Matter protests, resulted in Slager losing his job with the PD, his attorney dumping him, and his being arrested and held without bail three days later.
    He was charged with obstruction of justice for making a false statement to state investigators and planting the taser next to Scott's body. There was also talk of prosecuting the officer who accompanied him who claimed to have administered CPR to Scott, when the video showed him doing no such thing.
    His killing of Scott preceded the shooting at the Emmanuel Baptist Church by Dylann Roof in the same state by two months. Many deemed it poetically fitting that he and Roof would be cellblock neighbors in the same jail (not cellmates as is commonly reported).
    The presiding judge declared a mistrial after the jury became deadlocked with 11 of the 12 jurors favoring a conviction (the hold-out juror said he could not 'in good conscience' vote for a guilty verdict).

Why he might not be annoying:

    While incarcerated in the Charleston County Jail, he was prevented from seeing his newborn child.
    A GoFundMe page to raise legal funds for his defense was shut down in less than 24 hours.
    The attention surrounding the case providing a strong impetus to the calls for police body cams, which garnered support from Republicans like Tim Scott.
    Before becoming a cop, he served in the U.S. Coast Guard (not unlike Walter Scott, ironically).
    He did have cause to pursue Scott as he fled the vehicle while Slager was processing his information; likely to avoid being arrested again for failure to pay child support. (It didn't warrant his shooting the guy, but still...)
    His case was so cut and dry that no conservative outlet would dare to stick their necks out to defend him the way they did George Zimmerman or Darren Wilson.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 8 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 93.33% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 21 Votes: 38.10% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 18 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 27 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 133 Votes: 63.91% Annoying