On September 4, Sean Groubert, a South Carolina state trooper since fired for what you’re about to see, stopped 35-year-old Levar Jones for not wearing his seat belt as he pulled into a gas station. In newly released video captured by the officer’s dash cam, Groubert can be seen asking Jones for his driver’s license and then almost instantly opening fire when Jones reaches back into his car to retrieve it. “I just got my license — you said get my license!” cries Jones, who survived a bullet to the hip.
Groubert, unlike the officers who killed John Crawford III in Ohio, will face charges.
“What did I do, sir?” asks Jones after the shooting. “I don’t know what happened. Why did you shoot me?”
“Well, you dove head-first back into your car,” replies Groubert. “Then you jumped back out — I’m telling you to get out of your car.”
“I’m sorry,” says Jones. “I’m sorry.”
Groubert faces up to 20 years in prison for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. It’s all right there on the tape.
