‘Blue Lives Matter’ sign put up near site of police shooting

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Less than a week after a white former South Carolina police officer pleaded guilty to a civil rights charge in the 2015 death of an unarmed black man who ran from a traffic stop, a “Blue Lives Matter” billboard was installed on the road where the shooting happened.

The sign expressing support for police was installed Friday about a mile (1.6 kilometre) from where Walter Scott was killed, The Post and Courier of Charleston reported Monday (http://bit.ly/2q16MIt). On May 2, former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager pleaded guilty in federal court to violating Scott’s civil rights by shooting him without justification.

Scott Garland, a resident of Charleston’s West Ashley community, sponsored the billboard that bears its message on a black background with a blue line through it. He has held a cardboard sign with the same words outside Slager’s hearings and would not comment on whether the billboard’s placement was purposeful.

“It’s nothing negative against anybody,” Garland said. “It was intended as a show of support to the men and women in blue.”