Walter Scott Shooting: Santana Was Terrified To Reveal His Video

He was 23, a Dominican immigrant, who was just on a stroll across a chain-link fence in North Charleston, speaking through his cell phone on April 4. But there was one incident that he happened to see and film, though he did fear the consequences.

But he did it---and it probably changed him forever. "My life ... changed in a matter of seconds," he said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Thursday.

Santana saw a white police officer firing his pistol at an unarmed black man, Walter Scott, who was running. Watching the video, the North Charleston Police Chief Eddie Driggers said that he was "sickened" by the sight. The officer, Michael Slager, 33, was charged with murder.

Before he started filming, Santana saw the two of them struggling on the ground. He then heard a taser, and saw Walter Scott running away, according to theguardian.

Santana shot the video but did not come out with it. He was terrified for his life before as well as after the shooting, when he had given the tape to the Scott family. Last Wednesday, he gave his interviews to the media, talking about his experience.

"I saw Mr. Scott running on the same street I'm heading to my job," he said on "Morning Joe." "Then I saw the officer chasing him. I just decided to chase them to see what was happening."

He heard a taser clicking and decided to follow them. "I was hearing the taser sound," he said, "and the yelling of Mr. Scott, and that's when I decided to do the recording."

He told NBC News that both the men were on the ground.

"I remember the police [officer] had control of the situation," he said. "He had control of Scott. And Scott was trying just to get away from the taser. But, like I said, he never used the taser against the cop."

He added: "As you can see in the video, the police officer just shot him in the back. I knew right away, I had something on my hands."

Afraid of what the police would do to him if he reported the video, Santana wondered what to do. He made one visit, but left after he was asked to wait.

"I felt that my life, with this information, might be in danger," he told MSNBC. "I thought about erasing the video and just getting out of the community, you know, Charleston, and living someplace else." On "Morning Joe," he added that his family was "afraid of what would happen" to him.

Finally, he decided to chase the case after he heard the police version---that Scott had grabbed the taser. "I knew the cop didn't do the right thing," he said.

On Sunday afternoon, Santana finally decided that he had to contact the Scotts and hand over his video. "I felt a need to look for justice," he said.

Santana met Walter's brother, Anthony Scott, and told him, "I have something to share with you," he said, according to Los Angeles Times.  He showed him the video, which shook the family. "They were very emotional," he said.

On Tuesday night, the video was released to the media, and played out to the world.

The video made it very clear that Slager was lying, and Santana had put his life in danger. The social media call him a hero. A Facebook page called "Fans of Feidin Santana", labeling him an "American hero," a "patriot" and an "angel on earth." Fans decided to raise funds for him.

"I'm proud of you because you have the courage to do the right thing so this criminal can pay for his crime," one commenter wrote. "...We need more people like you on this earth so we can stop the abuse and the killing of our Black and Latino brothers by law enforcement. God bless you."

He quickly posted a reply in his page.

"Hey guys ... as you can see my English is not my first language," he wrote. "But I'm very thankful of everyone support. Even though this is very new to me and my family but never imagined that this will turn with so much love (which make it a little bit easy for me). Thank you for everything! For all those kind words ... thank you.

"We all equal, we all human, let's love each other and stop all this killings in our world."

How did he get the nerve to film it? He replied: "I don't know what happened to me at that moment to be honest. I'm a great believer in God. Maybe he put me there for some reason."

However, he is not totally happy with what happened. Slager, the officer "has his family, Mr. Scott also has his family," he said. "But I think, you know, he [the officer] made a bad decision, and you pay for your decisions in this life."