Violence by, toward police backdrop for South Carolina trial

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – Opening statements are getting started in the murder trial of a white former police officer charged in the shooting death of an unarmed black motorist.

The trial unfolds against a backdrop of violence by and toward police across the nation.

A panel of 11 white jurors and one black juror will hear the case Thursday in a Charleston courtroom.

Michael Slager faces 30 years to life if convicted of murder in the April 2015 shooting death of 50-year-old Walter Scott as he fled a traffic stop in North Charleston.

In Ohio, a trial is underway for a white campus police officer charged in the death of a black man. And on Wednesday, authorities apprehended a suspect in the deaths of two Iowa officers shot while sitting in their patrol cars.

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