text: The fatal shooting of an unarmed black man fleeing from a police officer has stirred outrage around the nation, but people in this South Carolina city aren't surprised. They call it inevitable in a police department they believe focuses on petty crimes and fails to keep its officers in check. There is almost nothing in Michael Thomas Slager's police personnel file to suggest that his bosses considered him a rogue officer capable of murdering a man he just pulled over for a broken tail light. People in the community he served say this reflects what's going wrong with policing today: Officers nearly always get the last word when citizens complain. Scroll down for video . Residents of the Charleston, South Carolina, have said the shooting of unarmed black driver Walter Scott was preceded by previous unheeded complaints about the police.  Above, a friend of Scott's at a memorial . The officer who shot Scott, Michael Slager, had little in his file to suggest excessive force. Above, two men pray at the memorial . 'We've had through the years numerous similar complaints, and they all seem to be taken lightly and dismissed without any obvious investigation,' the Rev. Joseph Darby, vice president of the Charleston branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Thursday. The mostly black neighborhood in North Charleston where Slager fired eight shots at the back of Walter Lamer Scott on Saturday is far from unique in this regard, said Melvin Tucker, a former FBI agent and police chief in four southern cities who often testifies in police misconduct cases. Nationwide, training that pushes pre-emptive action, military experience that creates a warzone mindset, and legal system favoring police in misconduct cases all lead to scenarios where officers see the people they serve as enemies, he said. 'It's not just training. It's not just unreasonable fear. It's not just the warrior mentality. It's not just court decisions that almost encourage the use of it. It is not just race,' Tucker said. 'It is all of that.' Both Slager, 33, and Scott, 55, were US Coast Guard veteran. Slager had the dismissed excessive force complaint and Scott had been jailed repeatedly for failing to pay child support, but neither man had a record of violence. Video captured by a bystander to the shooting showed Slager fire eight shots at the back of Scott as he ran away . Original statements from Slager said that he felt threatened by Scott, though video released appears to contradict the police account of the incident . A dash cam video from police shows Scott running away from his car during a traffic stop for a broken tail light . Slager consistently earned positive reviews in his five years with the North Charleston Police. His new attorney, Andy Savage, said Thursday that he's conducting his own investigation, and that it's 'far too early for us to be saying what we think.' Slager's first attorney said he followed all proper procedures before using deadly force, but swiftly dropped him after the dead man's family released a bystander's video of the shooting. The officer, whose wife is eight months pregnant, is being held without bond pending an August 21 hearing on a charge of murder that could put him in prison for 30 years to life if convicted. A steady crowd left flowers, stuffed animals, notes and protest signs Thursday in the empty lot where Scott was gunned down. Many said police in South Carolina's third-largest city routinely dismiss complaints of petty brutality and harassment, even when eyewitnesses can attest to police misbehavior. Scott (left) and Slager (right) were both Coast Guard veterans. Slager is being held without bond on a murder charge . POLICE VERSION . Police officer Michael Slager said in a statement earlier this week that his encounter with Walter Scott began at around 9.30am on Saturday. He said he pulled Scott's Mercedes over as a routine traffic stop for a broken brake light. He said Scott then ran away into a vacant grassy lot where, at some point during the chase, the victim confronts Slager. The officer then tried to use his Taser to subdue Scott, but claims the suspect grabbed the stun gun during the struggle, according to the statement. According to police reports, Slager fired the stun gun, but it did not stop Scott. At that point, the officer fired at Scott several times because he 'felt threatened,' Slager's statement said. He added that his actions were in line with procedure. Police then said Slager reported on his radio moments after the struggle: 'Shots fired and the subject is down. He took my Taser.' His department said the officers then performed CPR and delivered first aid to the victim. WHAT THE VIDEO SHOWS . Slager's account has been called into question after the video appears to show him shooting Scott in the back. The footage begins in the vacant lot apparently moments after Slager fires his Taser. Wires which administer the electrical current appear to be extending from Scott's body. As Scott turns to run, Slager draws his pistol and, only when he is 15 to 20 feet away, starts to fire the first of the eight shots at his back. The video shows Slager handcuffing Scott's lifeless body. Footage then appears to show Slager jogging back to the point where the Taser fell to the ground, bringing it over to Scott's body around 30 feet away and dropping it next to him. It is only after two-and-a-half minutes that Slager is seen placing his hand on Scott's neck in an apparent attempt to check his pulse. A black colleague then arrives and puts on blue medical gloves before handling the body, but is not seen performing first aid. They are joined by a third officer, who also does not appear to tend to the victim. The result, they say, is that officers are regarded with a mixture of distrust and fear. Slager's file includes a single excessive use-of-force complaint, from 2013: A man said Slager used his stun gun against him without reason. But Slager was exonerated and the case closed, even though witnesses told The Associated Press that investigators never followed up with them. 'It's almost impossible to get an agency to do an impartial internal affairs investigation,' Tucker said/ . 'First of all the investigators doing it are co-workers of the person being investigated. Number two, there's always the tendency on the part of the departments to believe the officers.' Mario Givens, the man who accused Slager of excessive force in 2013, told the AP that Slager woke him before dawn by loudly banging on his front door, and saying 'Come outside or I'll tase you!' 'I didn't want that to happen to me, so I raised my arms over my head, and when I did, he tased me in my stomach anyway,' Givens said. Mario Givens (pictured) filed an excessive force complaint against Slager in 2013, but he was not interviewed and no witnesses were questioned . 'They never told me how they reached the conclusion. Never. They never contacted anyone from that night. No one from the neighborhood.' Givens said he's convinced Scott's death could have been prevented if Slager had been disciplined in his case. 'If they had just listened to me and investigated what happened that night, this man might be alive today,' he said. Darby also wonders if Saturday's fatal shooting might have turned out differently had the department thoroughly investigated the 2013 Taser complaint. 'I think he would have been rebuked instead of fired,' Darby said. 'But maybe it changes the way he sees things.' Darby and other civil rights leaders want North Charleston to create an independent citizens review board to review complaints against police, since 'law enforcement is going to almost always give itself the benefit of the doubt.' Such boards are few and far between in South Carolina. North Charleston police spokesman Spencer Pryor said Wednesday that the department now plans to review Givens' complaint, although he wouldn't say what difference that could make now.
target: Officer Michael Slager's file has little to suggest use of excessive force .
  South Carolina residents say complaints dismissed without investigation .
  Mario Givens accused Slager of excessive force in 2013 for Taser incident .