Photo

The lawyer for the family of Walter L. Scott, who was fatally shot by a police officer in South Carolina, is withdrawing his support from Hillary Clinton and endorsing Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on Monday afternoon.

The lawyer, State Representative Justin T. Bamberg of South Carolina, said he is switching sides because he believes Mrs. Clinton embodies establishment politics, while Mr. Sanders offers a bolder platform that will improve the lives of people in the South and across the country. The endorsement could help Mr. Sanders as he tries to win more support from black voters — especially in South Carolina — in the series of southern states that hold contests after Iowa and New Hampshire, where he is well positioned.

“Hillary Clinton is more a representation of the status quo when I think about politics or about what it means to be a Democrat,” said Mr. Bamberg, who initially endorsed Mrs. Clinton in December. “Bernie Sanders on the other hand is bold. He doesn’t think like everyone else. He is not afraid to call things as they are.”

In April in North Charleston, a police officer, Michael T. Slager, fatally shot Mr. Scott, 50, as he ran from the officer. Video of the shooting went viral and a grand jury in June indicted Mr. Slager on a murder charge.

Mr. Bamberg represents Mr. Scott’s four children, two brothers, as well as his mother and father. The lawmaker said the family has not endorsed a presidential candidate, but Mr. Bamberg said he has spoken with several other South Carolina lawmakers about possibly supporting Mr. Sanders.

Symone Sanders, a spokeswoman for Mr. Sanders’s campaign, said she and other staff members are trying to persuade other officials to endorse Mr. Sanders. She said the campaign plans to enlist the help of Mr. Bamberg to make their case to voters to coalesce around the Vermont senator.

“The Clinton campaign talks about having this firewall” in the South, Ms. Sanders said. “You are starting to see cracks in that firewall.”

Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator who was also once a prominent Clinton supporter, has also decided to endorse Mr. Sanders.

When Mr. Bamberg first endorsed Mrs. Clinton, he did not know much about Mr. Sanders, he said. He spent the last few weeks learning about the senator and listening to him speak during debates and events.

“I don’t think I gave Senator Sanders his fair shake,” Mr. Bamberg said.

The Clinton campaign did not immediately respond to word of the endorsement.

Mr. Bamberg said he eventually decided to support Mr. Sanders after the two men spoke for 20 minutes last week on Martin Luther King’s Birthday about the shooting death of Mr. Scott. They also discussed Mr. Sanders’s plans for criminal justice reform, for creating new policies for police departments and about the struggles of working-class people.

“What I got from him was not a presidential candidate talking to a state representative, or an old white man talking to a young black guy,” Mr. Bamberg said. “What I got from him was a man talking to a man about things that they are passionate about, and that was the tipping point for me.”