Politics: The former police officer involved in the fatal shooting of unarmed black man Walter Scott is pleading guilty

Michael Slager is pleading guilty to violating the civil rights of Michael Scott, an unarmed black man he fatally shot.

A former South Carolina police officer will plead guilty in federal court to violating the civil rights of an unarmed black man he fatally shot.

Michael Slager, formerly a patrol officer in the North Charleston Police Department, shot Walter Scott in the back after Scott ran away following a traffic stop in April of 2015.

The incident was caught on video by a bystander. The video was widely shared around the internet, viewed millions of times, and set of a firestorm of criticism for Slager's handling of the situation.

Slager had faced both murder charges and federal civil rights charges in connection with the shooting. State prosecutors are dropping the murder charge, according to a copy of the plea agreement obtained by the Associated Press.

Slager claimed during his trial last year that he was justified in shooting Scott — eight times according to the video — because he was "scared." The North Charleston police chief, however, said he was "sickened" target="_blank" by Slager's actions.

The incident began when Slager pulled over Scott's 1991 Mercedes over a broken tail light. Scott fled the vehicle and Slager pursued him on foot.

Slager testified that he had tried to subdue Scott prior to the shooting with a Taser when Scott wrestled the Taser out of the officer's hands.

Scott "was extending his right arm, leaning forward, and coming at me," Slager said. "I saw that Taser coming at me and I knew I was in trouble. I knew I was overpowered."

Jurors considered both murder charges and manslaughter charges in Slager's initial trial. The trial hinged on whether the 12 jurors — 11 of whom were white — could reasonably think that Slager was in life-threatening danger when he shot Scott.

Slager's initial trial on state murder charges ended in a hung jury in December.

Slager is expected to plead guilty to one federal charge of excessive use of force on Tuesday afternoon, a source with direct knowledge told CNN. The charge is punishable by up to life in prison.

This story is developing.

Here's the dash cam footage from Michael Slager's vehicle preceding the shooting. The shooting is not shown in this video:

Michael Slager is pleading guilty to violating the civil rights of Michael Scott, an unarmed black man he fatally shot. Read Full Story