"It really feels as if Officer Slager is carrying the burden of many past cases that were handled differently," Savage said in a release. It's uncommon for the Justice Department to bring federal civil rights charges against police officers in deadly shootings. Slager's lawyer, Andy Savage, meanwhile, questioned the timing of the federal charges, called the penalties extreme and suggested the federal case is seeking to make amends for history. Such cases require them to prove an officer willfully violated the victim's civil rights by knowingly using more force than the law allows. The federal indictment says Slager, while acting as a law officer, deprived Scott of his civil rights.

Source: ABC News May 12, 2016 02:11 UTC