Ben Carson: SC police shooting an ‘execution’

by Mark Hensch - 04/08/15 4:32 PM ET

Ben Carson, a potential Republican presidential contender, on Wednesday condemned the police shooting of an unarmed black man in North Charleston, S.C., calling it a public “execution.”

“It’s horrible to see an execution take place in the street like that,” Carson told BuzzFeed News.

“I think it’s so obvious that he was wrong that this provides an excellent opportunity for law enforcement personnel across the country to really come out and condemn this,” he added.

{mosads}Carson said that police officer Michael Slager, 33, resorted to lethal force too quickly during the Saturday incident, which was caught on video. Slager shot Walter Scott, 50, following a traffic stop.

“Certainly that policeman was too quick to do it,” Carson said.

“I don’t know if you can always generalize in a situation like that, but certainly that officer was wrong,” he added.

Carson said he was left “aghast” by footage of Scott’s killing.

Slager was arrested and charged with murder Tuesday after The New York Times published a grisly video of the encounter recorded by a bystander.

Slager pulled Scott over for a broken brake light. Police reports claimed the two struggled and that the officer then used a stun gun during the conflict.

But the video footage shows a white police officer firing a gun at a fleeing black man, who collapses.

2024 Election Coverage

The witness who recorded the video on Wednesday vowed to speak publicly “at some point” about the incident. North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey also revealed Wednesday that additional, unreleased footage of the incident recorded from Slager’s police cruiser may exist.

Carson, a conservative activist, says he will decide on a presidential run by May.