An ex-South Carolina state trooper pleaded guilty Monday to assault and battery after shooting an unarmed man at a gas station in 2014. Groubert will be sentenced later.
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This is how Groubert explained it to his supervisor after the shooting.
The video showed Groubert pulling up to Jones without his siren on for a seatbelt violation during afternoon rush hour. The trooper asked Jones for his license, and Jones turned around to reach for his ID in his truck cab when Groubert fired several shots at him, according to investigators.
Groubert faces up to 20 years in prison, the AP said.
Levar Jones was walking into a convenience store when Groubert got out of his auto and demanded Jones’ driver’s license.
In the video, Jones cried in pain waiting for an ambulance and repeated: “Why did you shoot me?”
The trooper’s dash-cam caught Groubert on tape as the officer wounded-but did not kill- 35-year-old Levar Edward Jones. Smith called the incident “disturbing”, saying Groubert “reacted to a perceived threat where there was none”.
The video -and the case- reveals that Jones followed Groubert’s directions and grabbed his license from the car- after getting out- then unexpected gunfire ensued.
From the first shot to the fourth, the video clicks off three seconds.
One broader lesson of the Groubert case, however, is that it vividly showed the key role of video in police-civilian incidents, Stoughton said.
An attorney for Groubert could not immediately be reached for comment Monday. They asked for Groubert to continue getting treatment while he is detained. The troopers got out of their cars and returned fire, wounding the gunman, who is now in state prison serving a 25-year sentence.
A judge placed Groubert on house arrest for the misdemeanor charge but allowed him to leave home for work, church, court and medical appointments.
The charge against Groubert stemmed from a traffic stop earlier that month in Columbia, the state capital.
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“For reasons that only Groubert can articulate at this point, he fired his service weapon multiple times while yelling repeatedly for Mr. Jones to ‘get out of the auto, ‘” the Department of Public Safety said in a statement that month. In November of a year ago, Richland County sheriff’s deputies charged him with shoplifting, after Walmart employees said he and his wife changed the price tags on items to save themselves over $100 at the self-checkout register.
