A publicist in Australia sent cease-and-desist letters to news organizations across the country this week and said they will now be forced to pay money if they want to use the video of a North Charleston Police officer shooting a man as he ran away.
The New York Times reported that Markson Sparks, a celebrity management company based in Sydney, Australia told the media outlets they will now need to fork over a one-time fee of $10,000 to use the cell phone footage.
The video, from an April 4 traffic stop, allegedly showed North Charleston police officer Michael Slager shooting Walter Scott in the back as he ran away from the officer. Feidin Santana, who happened to be walking by as the incident occurred captured it on video and handed it over the victim’s family.
Slager was charged with murder as a result of the video, and remains in jail awaiting trial.
The video has already been viewed over one million times on YouTube, and countless more times on other websites.
Max Markson, head of the Markson Sparks agency, told the Times he does not think it is in poor taste to charge money for the video and “the people who might be put off by this are the media outlets that had it for free. Now they will have to pay.”
The announcement of the fee came as a surprise to Feidin Santana, who captured the video, who said his lawyer mentioned something about it, but he didn’t understand what he meant.
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