( CNN ) I 'm haunted by the video of Officer Michael Slager firing eight shots at Walter Scott as he fled his encounter with North Charleston police -- his back turned to the officer . What I find more disturbing is how the officer cuffs the fallen Scott and allows him to die face-down in the dirt while Slager appears to plant an item next to his body . I understand why people are skeptical of self-defense claims -- especially from law enforcement . If not for the video taken by a bystander , I ca n't help but think that this story would be shuttered behind the wall of an active investigation . As a defense attorney , I am more sensitive than anyone to the assumption of innocence for those accused of a crime , but this single piece of evidence -- a video of a man shot in the back while in full retreat -- defies any reasonable explanation . Thank God there was a camera . It will help ensure that justice will be served in this case . However , there is another camera that -- had it been deployed -- might have prevented the entire tragedy : a police body camera . Throughout the entire encounter with Scott , it 's clear Slager had no idea someone was filming him . Had he known there would be video of his every move , would he have drawn his weapon on a fleeing man ? Would he have fired ? Eight times ? Would he have misrepresented the encounter on his police report ? Of course not . If Slager had been wearing a body camera , Scott would probably still be alive , and Slager would n't be facing the possibility of life in prison -- or a possible death sentence . Body cameras are expensive to deploy , sure . And storing the massive amounts of data that body cameras create costs even more . That cost , however -- if we 're talking the monetary kind -- may be eclipsed by the punitive damages delivered to Scott 's family in an inevitable civil suit against the North Charleston Police Department . Most importantly , we have to ask ourselves this : What 's the value of a human life ? Certainly it 's worth the price of some mass data storage . And there 's something else at stake . The public is losing confidence in law enforcement , and the strained relationship between minorities and police is reaching a breaking point . Every police shooting that captures headlines justifies an ever increasing fear of cops in the street . As fear ratchets up , so does the tension between cops and the people in the communities they serve . As tension rises , the risk of more shootings increases . It is a cycle of destruction that could lead to chaos . Police body cameras can help break this cycle . Studies have shown that both cops and people in the community act better when they know they are on camera . Complaints against cops decrease , and , most importantly , use-of-force incidents drop . I will admit that body cameras are only an interim solution . They only help compensate for the real underlying problem , which is this : There is a bias against black men that has infiltrated the criminal justice system , and we are seeing it in the disproportionate shooting of black men . When we look at this footage -- and when we see the dashboard camera from the other South Carolina officer who last year shot a man who was reaching for his driver 's license -- it 's clear that many cops are more likely to interpret actions , even routine actions , from black men as potentially aggressive . These may not be overtly racist cops . They may not intentionally treat black men differently , but we ca n't pretend that black men are n't being disproportionately targeted . All across the country , we see it happening , and with the proliferation of video , we 're seeing it happen with alarming frequency . Somehow , we 're going to have to beat this bias out of our system . Set tougher employment screening standards when hiring cops . Institute more training to help officers recognize the bias and adjust for it . As a society , we have to focus on the broad social changes needed to address disparities in income , education and opportunities -- disparities that keep us a racially divided nation . But social change , sadly , may take generations of hard work . In the meantime , if we ca n't immediately root out racial bias , we can at least put a bright spotlight on it , and we can start by focusing on the one interaction where racial bias results in the loss of life -- we can start by placing body-mounted cameras on cops .
Mark O'Mara : Video captured Michael Slager shooting Walter Scott ; if cop had been wearing a body camera , he probably would n't have fired . O'Mara says such cameras are expensive , but cheaper than wrongful death payouts -- and the cost of a human life . The underlying problem is racial bias in policing ; until that 's solved , body cameras are a good interim solution .