2nd S.C. officer charged in separate fatal shooting

While the nation’s attention was riveted Tuesday on murder charges filed in one police shooting, South Carolina officials quietly arrested a second officer in connection with a fatal shooting last year.

Justin Gregory Craven, 25, a white public safety officer in North Augusta, was charged with discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, a felony, in the February 2014 death of black motorist Ernest Satterwhite, 68.

Craven, who has been on administrative leave since the shooting, was booked Tuesday into the Edgefield County jail, state officials said. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison and a $1,000 fine.

According to investigators, Craven tried to stop Satterwhite on suspicion of drunken driving, but Satterwhite fled, leading the officer on a lengthy car chase from North Augusta to Satterwhite’s home in Edgefield County. There, investigators say, after Satterwhite stopped in his driveway, Craven fired repeatedly into the vehicle through the driver-side door.

The State Law Enforcement Division, which investigates most police shootings in South Carolina, announced the charges against Craven on the same day that another white police officer, Michael Slager, was charged with murder in the death of a black man, Walter Scott, in North Charleston, S.C.

In both cases, the victims were initially approached by police during a traffic stop. And in both cases, a video captured the shooting. In North Charleston, a bystander shot footage of Slager firing eight times into Scott’s back as he ran away. In the 2014 shooting, Craven, too, was captured on video, according to the arrest warrant, and he later “admitted firing the pistol” into the car occupied by Satterwhite.

A spokesman for the State Law Enforcement Division declined to discuss the footage or any details related to the case, citing the ongoing investigation. Craven’s attorney, Jack Swerling, said his client plans to plead not guilty.

According to an incident report released by the Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office to the Edgefield Daily last year, Craven said after the shooting that Satterwhite – who was unarmed – “grabbed my gun.” A copy of that report was not immediately available to The Washington Post.

A separate incident report released by the North Augusta Department of Public Safety stated that “a struggle ensued between officer Craven and the suspect over officer Craven’s duty weapon” before Craven fired multiple times at Satterwhite.

A lawsuit filed by Satterwhite’s family – which has since been settled for more than $1 million – “vehemently denies” that he engaged in a struggle for Craven’s weapon.

Prosecutors initially sought a charge of manslaughter in the case, but a grand jury instead indicted Craven on a charge of “misconduct in office,” a misdemeanor. That case is still pending.

Satterwhite’s family sought stiffer charges, “like involuntary manslaughter,” the Satterwhite family attorney, Carter Elliott, wrote in an email. “But the current charge is better than misconduct in office – which is what he was previously charged with.”

This story was originally published April 8, 2015 at 8:00 AM with the headline "2nd S.C. officer charged in separate fatal shooting."