Five days after being fired from the South Carolina Highway Patrol for shooting an unarmed man several times during a traffic stop, former cop Sean Groubert was arrested in the city of Columbia on Wednesday and charged with a felony.
Groubert, 31, now faces two decades in prison if he’s found guilty of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature; he was released from custody late Wednesday on $75,000 bond, but not before the public was provided with dash-cam footage from the Sept. 4 shooting that sent Levar Jones to an area hospital.
The three-minute-long video recording — first played at Wednesday’s bond hearing and then published online by The State newspaper — shows Groubert trailing a pickup truck earlier this month in his cruiser for a few seconds before he initiates a traffic stop over a supposed seat belt violation and pulls up behind the vehicle at a local gas station.
http://youtu.be/sxFODW_eDi0
Jones, the driver, is shown exiting the vehicle near a gas pump and being asked by Groubert for his license, Jones reaches into his back pocket briefly and then turns back towards the cab of the pickup where he says he was looking for his ID.
Groubert fired four shots at Jones as the man attempted to produce his identification as requested, and one of the bullets struck the man’s hip.