A South Carolina state trooper was fired last week and arrested on yesterday (9/24) after a dashcam video showed him shooting an unarmed man during a routine traffic stop at a gas station.
Former officer Sean Groubert is seen in the newly released video pulling over Levar Edward Jones. The clip, which was recorded on Groubert’s dashcam on Sept. 4, shows Jones getting out of his vehicle at a gas station in Columbia.
Groubert asks Jones for his driver’s license. As Jones reaches into his vehicle to retrieve it, Groubert shouts, “Get out of the car!”
When Jones complies and starts to back away from the vehicle, Groubert opens fire. Three shots can be heard; Jones was hit at least once, in the hip.
“I was just getting my license,” Jones says. He also apologizes repeatedly, and asks, “Sir, why was I shot? All I did was reach for my license. I’m coming from work.”
“Well, you dove head-first back into your car,” Groubert says. “Then you jumped back out, I’m telling you to get out of your car.”
Groubert was charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, a felony which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, according to a news release from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
