A white former South Carolina state trooper has pleaded guilty in the shooting of an unarmed black man.
Sean Groubert, 32, pleaded guilty to assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature Monday for the 2014 shooting and could spend up to 20 years in prison, WLTX reports. Groubert said he was going to question Levar Jones about not wearing a seat belt but the confrontation quickly escalated to the shooting.
Dashcam video of the incident was key to the case. In the video, Groubert pulls into a store parking lot behind Jones. Jones is already getting out of his car to go in the store as Groubert pulls in behind him. Groubert gets out of his vehicle and asks Jones for his license. But when Jones reaches into his car to get the license, Groubert yells at him to get out of the car and then opens fire. He shot four times, and one hit Jones in the hip.
“Why did you shoot me?” Jones can be heard saying in the video.
“Well, you dove head first back into your car,” Groubert answers.
Most of the remaining video is Jones cries of pain and confusion over why he was shot. Jones survived the shooting and received a $285,000 settlement from the state. Groubert was fired and now faces prison time.
Warning, the may be disturbing.
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