Cop was sacked and charged with felony assault and faces maximum 20 year sentence if guilty

A black man has come out in support of police body cameras after he was gunned down by a white officer during a traffic stop and writhed in agony on the ground saying: 'Why did you shoot me sir?'

Levar Jones, 36, who has no criminal record and was on his way home from his job at a Subway café, said the horror of his own shooting was brought home by the death of Walter Scott last week.

He told Daily Mail Online he wanted to see non-lethal methods introduced for police, new training in them, and supported bodycams for officers.

Mr Jones was confronted by a police officer opening fire at him as he followed instructions to produce his driver's license and was hit in the stomach.

The horrifying incident was captured on the officer's dash cam and has led to the policeman Sean Groubert, 31, being fired and charged with a felony assault.

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Aim: This is the moment South Carolina state trooper Sean Groubert opened fire on Levar Jones, who was unarmed and had his back to the officer. He had stopped him over a suspected seatbelt violation

Victim and accused: Levar Jones has no criminal record and was unarmed when he was pulled over. Sean Groubert has been sacked as a state trooper, and charged with felony assault over the shooting

The victim said the shooting on last September has led to serious psychological problems which had left him unable to work since and needing to see a counselor regularly to help him through the trauma.

He told Daily Mail Online: 'I was just an innocent person pulling up at a gas station.

'The officer asked for my license and I tried not to look as a threat at any minute.

'I made it obvious that I was going for my wallet and as I was going to reach for it. He started shouting at me and opened fire.'

Mr Jones said he had gone to the Shell gas station in Columbia, South Carolina, the same state where Mr Scott was killed this month, to buy cigarettes while on his way home from work.

The dash cam recorded the shooting and Mr Jones writhing in agony, calling the officer 'Sir' and pleading to know why he had been shot.

Groubert is seen in the video pulling out of the station and then suddenly putting his vehicle into reverse, turning back and driving towards Mr Jones' white pick up truck which has just pulled in.

The clip shows Mr. Jones getting out of his vehicle and on hearing the officer's instructions to produce his license, turn and reach into his vehicle to retrieve it.

Groubert shouts, 'Get out of the car!'

When Mr Jones complies and starts to back away from the vehicle with his hands raised, Groubert opens fire.

Four shots can be heard with the victim being hit in the hip and reeling backwards and falling to the ground as demanded by the shooter.

The audio then reveals Mr Jones screaming and saying: 'I was just getting my license. I am sorry…Sir, why was I shot? All I did was reach for my license. I'm coming from work.'

Groubert tries to explain himself and responds: 'Well, you dove head-first back into your car. Then you jumped back out. I'm telling you to get out of your car.'

The policeman is heard accusing the catering worker of a seat belt violation, but even amid his pain, he can be heard saying: 'I just pulled it off right there at the corner to pull in the gas station.'

The officer was charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, a felony which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in jail.

Deadly: The moment Walter Scott was shot repeatedly as he ran away from North Charleston police officer Michael Slager

Dashcam: The last moments of Walter Scott were only fully captured on camera because Feidin Santana, a passerby, used his cellphone to capture the shooting. This was the limted view from the officer's dash-cam

Mourning: Walter Scott's mother Judy arrives for his funeral, escorted to the left by a member of the US Coastguard, which her son had served in

Protest: Rev Al Sharpton led a tribute at the spot where Walter Scott died and called for fundamental change to policing to stop more deaths

The complaint states that Groubert 'did without justification unlawfully shoot Levar Jones which produced great bodily injury or was likely to cause great bodily injury.

'Audio and visual recordings, as well as written statements, obtained are further evidence to indicate the shooting incident was without justification.'

Mr Jones added: 'I could have been killed too. I was shot for nothing and even as I was on the ground wounded the officer asked for my id.

'At the hospital they chained me with both arms to a bed for five hours and released me on my own and I had to use cotton wool to tend the wounds.

'It was an awful experience. I am lucky to be alive. I didn't do anything but go for my license as I told him. He just shot at me.

'But this police brutality has to be stopped. I am not surprised that Walter Scott got shot. This type of incident has been going on for too long and there could be others..

'I have come to Charleston to pay my own respects and to support the campaign for body cams.

'I am here to support and help other victims of police brutality because I am the survivor.'

South Carolina police chiefs, in the light of Walter Scott's death, have announced that all patrol officers will be fitted with body cameras and Mr Jones called for the same policy to be followed around the US.

'These would lead to a better relationship between police and communities as inter action would be on record.

'Dash cams can't record everything because sometimes things happens out of the view of the vehicle like in the case of Walter Scott. Luckily Mr Santana was there with his mobile phone.

'The police in the US are too trigger happy. I am told ,they practice shooting around 3 or 5 times a week and that makes them reach for their guns too easily.

'When they are at an incident, their minds and their hands are already thinking about the gun on their belts.

Facing life: Michael Slager, with his wife Jamie, who is eight and a half months pregnant. He faces a life sentence if found guilty of murder and has been sacked from his force

'They are trained to use deadly force and that is wrong sometimes. There needs to be better training and practices.

'I have done my research and I spoke to friends in London who say the police largely don't have guns but when they do they rarely shoot and get target shooting maybe once a week.

'The body cams on officers in London must be a great help to both the police and the public. That would be the same here.

'Body cameras go hand in hand with the dash cams which are very useful in high speed pursuits. But once the officer exits that frame, it is no longer useful. Body cams are vital.

'But I would say officers must use Tazers first or pepper sprays. But there is a training problem in this country. Our officers are trained to shoot to kill.'

He said there was a misconception that only black males were targets and had researched cases where white unarmed men had been shot by police too.

'We just need big changes in America and that time is right now. Please show everybody the video of me being shot because that is the reality of what is going on in America today.

'I can't watch it myself though. It is too painful for me. But that video plays in my head all the time.'

The officer who shot him is on bail until the case against him concludes in the summer.

Mr. Jones added: 'I await my day in court because the details are yet to come out over what Officer Groper did.

'The officer went too far on me. But I can't be judge and jury against him.