In July, a team of investigators for Andy Savage, Michael Slager’s defense attorney, examines the scene where Walter Scott was killed in North Charleston. 
 
 Attorneys for former North Charleston officer Michael Slager filed court documents Tuesday alleging that Walter Scott, who had cocaine and alcohol in his blood, wrestled away the patrolman’s Taser and pointed it at him. 
 
 What’s next Circuit Judge Clifton Newman will consider Michael Slager’s request for bail during a hearing at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Charleston County Judicial Center, 100 Broad St., Charleston. 
 
 Facing his own Taser, Slager said he drew his pistol and fired, according to police reports included in the filing. 
 
 Inside For complete coverage of the Walter Scott shooting, go to postand courier.com/walter-scott 
 
 Attorneys for the officer now charged with murder in Scott’s death submitted the paperwork to offer an explanation of Slager’s actions and support his plea for release on bail. 
 
 The documents provide a glimpse of Slager’s account about what might have happened in the moments before a bystander started filming the April 4 confrontation. 
 
 But attorneys for Scott’s family said that none of the information is moving or shocking and that none of it directly supports Slager’s version of the shooting. The trace amount of drugs in Scott’s blood wasn’t enough to affect his behavior, they argued. 
 
 Ultimately, they noted, Slager suffered only minor scrapes while five bullets tore through Scott’s body. 
 
 “This entire filing is smoke and mirrors,” family attorney Justin Bamberg said. “They want you believe Scott took the Taser and attempted to use it on Mr. Slager, but Walter Scott’s fingerprints were not on the Taser.” 
 
 Slager’s lead defense lawyer, Andy Savage, argued that the evidence culled from a State Law Enforcement Division investigation favors his client. Slager has been jailed since the bystander’s footage surfaced three days after the shooting that raised scrutiny nationwide of police officers’ use of force against black men. 
 
 The attorney questioned why the authorities didn’t release evidence explaining parts of the encounter not shown in the video. 
 
 He said six police summaries of statements by Slager are consistent with each other and with forensic evidence, including the footage. 
 
 “It wasn’t just a cold-blooded shooting of a guy in the back, and they knew that,” Savage said Tuesday. “You have to view the Slager incident as part of a continuum of public questioning of police conduct, and he got swept up in that. I’m sure political leaders and law enforcement people were concerned about civil disobedience and perhaps activity beyond exercising of First Amendment rights.” 
 
 Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson, who is prosecuting Slager, said in response to Savage’s filing that such information should come out in court instead of the news media. Court rules also limit her ability to thoroughly respond to the move, Wilson said in a statement. 
 
 “It is best for the administration of justice that I not join in a media sideshow,” she said. “The evidence in this case will be presented in the courtroom. Presenting that evidence in the proper way and at the proper time remains our focus.” 
 
 The confrontation 
 
 On that Saturday morning in early April, Slager pulled over Scott’s Mercedes-Benz because of a broken brake light. 
 
 Video from his cruiser showed him talking with Scott. The officer never mentioned that he suspected Scott of driving under the influence. 
 
 Toxicology tests on Scott’s blood later found cocaine and the byproducts of cocaine and alcohol mixing in his system. While the level of cocaine for typical impaired drivers is about 87 nanograms per milliliter, Scott’s level was 36, according to the findings. 
 
 But to Chris Stewart, an attorney for Scott’s family, the amounts were so minimal that they might not have shown up in a urine test. 
 
 With Slager back in his cruiser during the traffic stop, Scott got out and started running. Slager chased him. 
 
 In a vacant lot, the officer first fired the stun gun at Scott’s back, but its prongs didn’t make clean contact, he later told North Charleston police Lt. Daniel Bowman. Slager put another cartridge into his Taser, allowing him to fire it again. 
 
 Scott fell, Slager later told police supervisors, according to the reports. With Scott on his stomach, Slager told him to put his hands behind his back, but he didn’t listen, the reports stated. Slager used his Taser to directly stun Scott twice — one in the side, once in the back. 
 
 In all, Slager pulled the Taser’s trigger six times during a 67-second span that morning, data from the device indicated. 
 
 Struggle on ground 
 
 Slager jumped onto Scott’s back and tried to handcuff the man, but Scott flipped over to face him, the officer told the police. 
 
 When Slager put his forearm to Scott’s neck to hold him down, according to the account, Scott used both hands to grab the Taser. The documents did not say where the Taser was at the time. 
 
 “The suspect was able to wrestle it away,” the lieutenant’s report stated. “The suspect then stood up and pointed the Taser at Officer Slager. Officer Slager then drew his weapon as he was returning to the standing position and fired multiple times.” 
 
 The start of the bystander’s video, taken from beyond a fence, showed the two on the ground. But the camera shifted away from the action as the men stood — the time when Slager said Scott had his stun gun. 
 
 The bystander, Feidin Santana, said Slager had the upper hand in the fight. 
 
 The Taser then bounced on the ground behind Slager, but it’s not clear in the footage how it had been dislodged. 
 
 Scott had his back turned, and he was running when Slager started shooting. 
 
 Three of the eight bullets missed. One grazed Scott’s right ear, according to autopsy findings. Other bullets hit his right shoulder, his right buttocks and his right side. One went into his upper back, puncturing his lungs and heart. 
 
 Doctors also found a Taser barb stuck in Scott’s left side. 
 
 Before Slager left the shooting scene, he showed Chief Eddie Driggers how he said Scott wrested the Taser from his hands. He also pointed at the scrapes on his legs and his left hand, according to Driggers’ report. The wounds were treated that afternoon at a hospital, but they were not serious. 
 
 The attorneys for Scott’s family released photos Tuesday contrasting the officer’s injuries with Scott’s bullet wounds. 
 
 “(Slager) had a small scratch on his finger and a scratch on his knee that you could get falling off a bicycle,” Stewart said. “He had no major injuries, and he pulled out his gun and shot it after Mr. Scott was running away.” 
 
 A risk to public? 
 
 SLED investigators later examined Slager’s clothes, finding his own blood on his shirt and pants. On the Taser, they also found DNA that likely came from both Slager and Scott, but the court documents offered no account for how Scott’s DNA got on the device. 
 
 The family attorneys said Scott’s DNA could have easily transferred to the Taser when Slager jabbed the device into Scott. 
 
 “It doesn’t mean Walter Scott had the Taser,” Bamberg said. 
 
 On Scott’s hands, the agents came across gunshot residue, the tiny particles spewed during a firearm discharge. The residue is typically found on a gunman’s hands and sometimes on gunshot victims. But it also could have wound up on Scott’s hands when Slager handcuffed him after the shooting, the family attorneys said. Slager’s lawyer said his team’s interpretations of the evidence would come during later court proceedings. 
 
 “We have our own theories about what happened, but that’s for the trial. That’s not for the bond hearing,” Savage said. “This information is to show ... an explanation so that the court can determine whether (Slager) is a risk to the public, which we believe he clearly isn’t.” 
 
 Circuit Judge Clifton Newman is expected to take up Slager’s bail request Thursday. Savage came up with two plans for the former officer’s release, but details were not included in the public court filing. 
 
 The documents included 40 letters in which 17 relatives, 14 North Charleston police employees and five former co-workers expressed support for Slager. A forensic psychiatrist also opined that Slager would pose a “very low risk” to the public if he’s released. “Mr. Slager has realistic plans for the future,” Dr. Leonard Mulbry wrote, “and (he) prioritizes the needs of his family and his desire to return to being the productive, responsible member of society he has always been.” 
 
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 The South Carolina police officer who shot and killed Walter Scott after he turned and ran says an infamous video does not show the whole story of what happened on the morning of April 4 — and he says the truth will come out. 
 
 “Just that three seconds of the video came out. And everybody thought I was racist, and I just got out of my car and just shot him in the back for no reason,” Officer Michael Slager told NBC News in a Skype interview from jail. 
 
 “That’s what makes me upset is that nobody knows what actually happened,” he said. “But now it’s gonna come out.” 
 
 The comments came as his lawyer outlined a defense: Slager didn’t know Scott was unarmed, felt threatened, and made a quick decision to shoot because he believed Scott might pull a gun and shoot him first. 
 
 And in documents filed Tuesday ahead of a bail hearing on Thursday, Savage argues the state's own evidence shows Slager did not commit murder. 
 
 The filings allege that Scott's DNA was found on Slager's Taser, and that gun shot residue was found on Scott's hands — purportedly indicating there was a struggle for both weapons. 
 
 A grand jury indicted Slager for murder in the North Charleston shooting, and a video clip recorded by a passerby made it the latest episode to call police conduct into question, particularly in encounters with unarmed black men. 
 
 Slager stopped Scott, 50, for a broken taillight. A dashboard camera inside the officer’s cruiser captured video of Scott fleeing on foot. 
 
 When the officer caught up, the bystander’s video captured what appeared to be the end of a struggle, and then Scott turning to run. Slager fired eight times from some distance. 
 
 The officer’s lawyer, Andy Savage, told NBC News that Scott grabbed Slager’s Taser and fired it twice at the officer, only missing because he didn’t know how to operate it. 
 
 Slager fired “because he felt threatened,” and had no way to know Scott was unarmed because he had not had the chance to pat him down, his lawyer said. 
 
 “He sees irrational behavior of a suspect, at that time,” Savage said. “He sees a guy who’s committed four felonies in the last minute and a half — violently resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer, robbing the police officer of his weapon Taser, and using that Taser in attempt to harm him. Four felonies in the last 30-45 seconds.” 
 
 After he took off running, Scott pivoted, the lawyer said, at which time the officer figured “the logic is that was going for a weapon.” 
 
 “Four months later, you can sit down with your cold beer and your TV show and watch the video and say, ‘Ah, he wasn’t armed,’” Savage said. “Well, good for you. Would you have known that at the time that the officer had to make a life-and-death decision? The guy has violently attacked him, violently tried to use the Taser against him.” 
 
 The video also raised suspicion because Slager, after Scott was down, appeared to drop the Taser beside Scott’s body. 
 
 Savage, the lawyer, said that only appeared suspicious through the prism of other cases of fatal encounters between police and unarmed black men, including Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner on Staten Island. 
 
 “If you wanted to erase all those background issues in the prism you’re looking through,” Savage said, “you would say he’s securing a weapon.” Thirty seconds later, he said, the officer picked up the weapon and holstered it. 
 
 Savage described his client as a “Joe Six-Pack” and “just a regular guy.” He said that Slager is sorry for what happened. 
 
 “He’s certainly very concerned about the loss of life,” Savage said. “I don’t want to say he’s desperate about that. But he realizes that his actions resulted in the death of somebody. That's a heavy thing for anybody. 
 
 "If an average guy, whether he's driving a car and runs over a pedestrian or — whatever it is and there’s a loss of life, it comes back and haunts you," said Savage. "And he’s haunted by that.” 
 
 Scott's family meanwhile says that despite any new evidence, they believe Slager committed murder. 
 
 "What truly matters in this case is this, the context to this situation is already caught on tape," said Scott family attorney Chris Stewart. "Everything else we've seen is distraction information, trying to make people think whatever transpired before is relevant and important. But it's not."
– The former police officer facing a murder charge in the death of Walter Scott says video of him shooting the unarmed black man in the back multiple times doesn't tell the whole story. In a jailhouse interview, Michael Slager tells NBC News that he finds it upsetting that "everybody thought I was racist, and I just got out of my car and just shot him in the back for no reason," but the truth is very different and it will come out. His lawyer tells NBC that Slager felt threatened after an alleged tussle for his Taser and that he fired as Scott took off running because he didn't know that he was unarmed and feared he would produce a weapon. Slager was facing a suspect "who's committed four felonies in the last minute and a half—violently resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer, robbing the police officer of his weapon Taser, and using that Taser in attempt to harm him," the lawyer says. The lawyer also claims that the video, which shows Slager apparently dropping the Taser next to Scott's body, only looks suspicious because people see it through "the prism" of other police incidents like the Michael Brown shooting. Slager has a bail hearing tomorrow, and in a court filing a lawyer for the Scott family dismisses as "smoke and mirrors," his lawyers allege that Scott wrested the Taser away from the officer and pointed it at him moments before the shooting, the Post and Courier reports. (Slager was accused of excessive force in 2013.)