NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Walter Lamer Scott had much to celebrate.
His temporary job as a warehouse forklift operator was going so well his boss was determined to keep him as a permanent hire. He had popped the question to his longtime girlfriend, who had agreed to become Scott’s third wife.
But Scott also had a problem that kept him looking over his shoulder: The father of four had fallen behind, again, on his child support payments. Failure to pay can mean jail time in South Carolina, and Scott had been locked up three times since 2008.
His family suspects it was Scott’s fear of returning to jail that led him to run during a traffic stop last Saturday.
Scott ended up dead, shot in the back. The police officer who opened fire was charged with murder after the shooting was caught on video.
“He had trouble keeping up with the payments, that’s all, and he knew he would go to jail,” Rodney Scott said. “His mission was to avoid the police as much as possible.”
Rodney Scott said his brother would take long detours when driving to their parents’ house because he thought there were more police patrolling the direct, 10-minute route from his home. He said Walter also tried to make sure any vehicle he drove had working headlights and taillights.
A few days before his death, Scott struck a deal to buy a 1991 Mercedes from a neighbor.
Scott was driving the car to an auto parts store Saturday, his brothers said, when a North Charleston policeman pulled him over for what the officer told him was a bad taillight. Scott called his mother to say he might be headed back to jail.
Video from the police car’s dashboard camera shows Officer Michael Thomas Slager asking Scott for his license and registration, then heading back to his cruiser. Scott gets out of the Mercedes and bolts.
