(CNN)
-- One moment, a man reaches into his vehicle after a South Carolina trooper
asked for his driver's license.
Seconds
later, the trooper shoots him, and the man asks why. Days afterward,
prosecutors aren't satisfied with the answer.
Authorities
released dash-camera video Wednesday showing what they say is Sean Groubert, a
decorated South Carolina Highway Patrol trooper, shooting Levar Jones, who was
unarmed, in the parking lot of a gas station just outside Columbia on September
4.
Jones,
35, survived the shooting. But Groubert, who has since been fired for the
incident, has been charged with aggravated assault and battery, a felony that
could get him up to 20 years in prison if convicted, the South Carolina Law
Enforcement Division said Wednesday.
Cop
shoots him as he reaches for wallet
"The
force administered in this case was unwarranted, inconsistent with how our troopers
are trained, and clearly in violation of department policies," South
Carolina Public Safety Director Leroy Smith said last week in announcing
Groubert's firing.
This
wasn't the first time Groubert had fired his weapon. He was lauded the previous
time: His department gave him a medal of valor for an incident in which he and
another trooper shot and injured a man who had shot at them in 2012, SCPSD
spokeswoman Sherri Iacobelli said.
Patrol
officer beats woman
'Why
did you shoot me?'
In
this year's incident, police said Groubert, 31, stopped Jones in the parking
lot of a Circle K station in daylight, for what police say was an alleged seat
belt violation, around 5 p.m.
Video
that authorities say was recorded from Groubert's police car shows the trooper
driving up to a vehicle just as its driver -- who authorities say is Jones --
steps out of the vehicle.
When
Groubert asks for Jones' license, Jones pivots toward the vehicle he just
exited -- the driver's door is still open -- and leans inside as if to retrieve
something, the video shows.
About
two seconds later, the trooper that police identify as Groubert comes into view
with a gun drawn and yells "Get out of the car! Get out of the car!"
The gun is fired -- at least four shots are heard -- and Jones steps away from
the vehicle, raising his hands in the air and eventually moving off camera.
"I
just got my license! You said get my license!" says someone off camera,
apparently Jones.
After
being told to put his hands behind his back, Jones asks: "What did I do,
sir?"
"Are
you hit?" asks another off-camera voice, apparently Groubert's.
"I
think so," comes the response. "I can't feel my leg. I don't know
what happened."
The
conversation continues:
"Why
did you shoot me?"
"Well,
you dove head-first back into your car. Then you (unintelligible), I'm telling
you get out of your car."
Shot
in the hip
Jones
was shot in the hip, CNN affiliate WACH reported. He was taken to a hospital
and later released, authorities said.
Jones
was found not to be armed, Smith said.
"I
believe this case was an isolated incident in which Mr. Groubert reacted to a
perceived threat where there was none," Smith said last week.
In
a court hearing Wednesday night, a judge ordered Groubert held with bond set at
$75,000, WACH reported.
CNN's
attempts to reach Groubert's and Jones' lawyers weren't immediately successful.
In
explaining Groubert's firing Friday, Smith said the department's policy on
using force says that officers can use "only the level of force necessary
to accomplish lawful objectives."
"That
protocol was not followed in this case. Further, this incident occurred in
broad daylight. Mr. Groubert had a clear and unobstructed view of Mr.
Jones," Smith said.
The
shooting, Smith said, "deviates from SCDPS standards and cannot be
tolerated."
