Danger?
The real danger came earlier when he and Scott were in a fight and Scott had the tazer. And used it on Slager.
Now was that justification to shoot a fleeing man 8 times in the back?
I say it partially justifies it. It explains it. I’ll even say that fact and the fact Slager lied about the incident is proof enough that he is guilty.
But 20 years guilty?
Excessive.
He was definitely guilty of murder. I don’t think 20 years was that bad, and the other thing, of course, is that in SC at this time, his action was quite inflammatory. Fortunately it came before the church shooting, but even then, a lot of black ministers kept the peace by stating that justice would be done.
And it was. Scott was running away, was a low-level nobody, not a saint but not a big baddie, and the cop just got mad and shot him. Not something anybody wants to encourage.