Another police murder of an unarmed Black man has received national attention.

On 4 April, officer Michael Slager in North Charleston, South Carolina, shot 50-year-old Walter Scott in the back five times.

Following the shooting, the local newspaper Post and Courier ran the headline, “North Charleston police officer felt threatened before fatal shooting” and reported: “Police allege that during the struggle the man gained control of the [cop’s] Taser and attempted to use it against the officer. The officer then resorted to his service weapon and shot him.”

But a video of the shooting emerged. It showed Scott was running away from Slager. He was 10 metres away when Slager opened fire, shooting eight times, hitting Scott with five bullets.

Slager then approached Scott, who was lying on the ground, and planted a Taser next to him.

With the release of the video, the town authorities changed their tune. Slager was dismissed from the force and charged with murder. That this charge was brought – when all the other famous cases that have emerged since Ferguson resulted in no charges being filed against the police – can be chalked up as a victory for the #Blacklivesmatter movement.

But whether a South Carolina jury will convict Slager remains to be seen.

Subsequently, the police released a video taken from Slager’s patrol car. It shows Slager having pulled Scott’s car over because it had a broken brake light.

It then shows Slager walking back to his patrol car. Scott jumps out of his car and runs away. The video never shows any physical interaction. Then Slager runs after Scott.

 The police had this video from the beginning, but they fabricated their initial story anyway.

If it weren’t for the video of the actual shooting, the whole thing would have been swept under the rug as a justified police killing.

The bystander who filmed the shooting, Feidin Santana, told MSNBC that he was so afraid of police retaliation after filming the incident, he considered deleting the footage and leaving town. But after he saw how the police and press were initially describing the incident, he courageously turned the video over to the Scott family, who released it to the public.

Santana’s fear of retaliation is well founded. The cops have gone after Ramsey Orta, who filmed the Staten Island, New York, police killing of Eric Garner. Orta was arrested on trumped-up charges two weeks after he released the video. His wife, Chrissie Ortiz, was subsequently arrested.

After they were released on bail, they faced continual police harassment.

Orta’s aunt, Lisa Mercado, told Democracy Now!: “Ever since the film – the filming Ramsey did – it was constant harassment every day, within the day hours, and it could be three, four or five in the morning, police would ride by the home and shine spotlights on the windows.”

In February, Ramsey Orta was arrested again. He is currently in the infamous New York City jail on Rikers Island. After rat poison was found in some prisoners’ food, Orta refused to eat what he is served, knowing the guards are out to get him. He has been eating only what he can get from vending machines.

Staten Island local press has been vilifying Orta and his family. The continuous police harassment has now forced them out of Staten Island.

An online defence fund was started to raise money for Orta’s bail and his trial. A large amount of money has poured in since the facts began to be known. On 9 April, bail was made from this fund, but the prosecutor refused his release, saying he had to investigate whether the funds were “obtained illegally”.

Orta remains locked up.