By Bruce Smith
Associated Press
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A dispute over legal fees for a white former South Carolina police officer charged in the shooting death of an unarmed black motorist is being settled out of court.
Former North Charleston officer Michael Slager sued the Southern States Police Benevolent Association last year, saying the group failed to provide legal representation he paid for under an insurance policy.
The association initially said it would not pay because the April, 2015, shooting of Walter Scott as he fled from a traffic stop was outside Slager’s duties as a police officer.
That shooting of Scott was captured on a dramatic cellphone video by a bystander and reignited the national debate over how blacks are treated by white police officers.
In federal court documents filed Tuesday, Slager’s attorney Bland Richter asks that the case be put on hold for 30 days while a settlement is finalized “through which the parties have resolved Michael Slager’s claims for benefits for an undisclosed sum of money to the parties’ satisfaction.”
The motion said attorneys for the Southern States Police Benevolent Association joined in the request to put the case on hold. A hearing scheduled for Thursday has now been canceled.
Slager, 33, stands trial in state court in October on a murder charge and faces 30 years to life if convicted in the shooting death of Scott, 50.
Slager, who is free on bond, also faces a criminal trial in federal court on charges that he deprived Scott of his civil rights. He also is charged with obstruction of justice and unlawful use of a weapon during the commission of a crime.
No date for the federal trial has been set.
Last October the city of North Charleston approved a $6.5 million civil settlement with Scott’s family. Attorneys said at the time that it was the largest such settlement in South Carolina history.
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