Police official speaks out about fatal Walter Scott shooting
CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. -- A North Charleston police official apologized Wednesday for last year's fatal shooting of an unarmed black man, CBS affiliate WCSC-TV reports.
North Charleston Assistant Police Chief Reggie Burgess made the apology during a community forum at Burke High School Wednesday night when he was asked if culture had anything to do with the image of a police department.
Burgess answered first by saying that he loves the city of North Charleston.
He then talked about the April 4 incident when former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager shot and killed Walter Scott.
"I love my city," Burgess said. "I want to work for my city, and I would not be involved with the department if the whole entire department was all that bad. We got some people that do wrong things. I'll admit that. I want to apologize to you all for what happened April the fourth. I want to apologize to you all. I got no problem with that. Because I've been doing [my job] for 28 years, and I understand how it works. But I'm not going to let one individual stop me from getting it done. I'm not."
Local law enforcement and community leaders discussed how to get everyone to work on the same team.
They also caught a lot of heat.
"You tell me who's to blame," Burgess said. "Eight homicides already in our city. Every last one of them of them black. Every last perpetrator black."
Burgess noted two North Charleston mothers who were murdered at their front doors within hours of one another.
"Five o'clock in the morning, the first of 2014, knock knock knock," Burgess said. "He knocked on the door. The mother walked and opened the door. Bam! Bam! No less than an hour later, did the same thing, knock knock. The lady opened the door. Bam! Shot her."
The officials at the Wednesday night event hoped to work toward a solution.
"Law enforcement now has to adapt to the community," Charleston County Sheriff's office spokesman Maj. Eric Watson said. "In other words, you have to understand the people we want to serve and protect."