Protests peaceful as curfew enforced
Family of shooting victim call for Charlotte police to release footage Transparency in troubled times
A third night of protests over a fatal police shooting in Charlotte gave way to quiet streets yesterday after the city’s mayor enacted a curfew and rifle- toting members of the National Guard arrived to guard the city’s business district.
The largely peaceful demonstrations called on police to release video that could resolve wildly different accounts of the shooting this week of a black man.
The family of Keith Lamont Scott, 43, were shown the footage yesterday of his fatal shooting and demanded that police release it to the public.
Demonstrators chanted “release the tape” and “we want the tape” while briefly blocking an intersection near Bank of America headquarters and later climbing the steps to the door of the city government centre. Later, several dozen demonstrators walked onto an interstate highway through the city, but they were pushed back by police in riot gear.
Still, the protests lacked the violence and property damage of previous nights — and a midnight curfew enacted by the mayor encouraged a stopping point.
Local officers’ ranks were augmented by members of the National Guard carrying rifles and guarding office buildings against the threat of property damage.
Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts signed documents for the citywide curfew that runs from midnight to 6am. After the curfew took effect, police allowed the crowd of demonstrators to thin without forcing them off the street.
Police Captain Mike Campagna told reporters that officers would not seek to arrest curfew violators as long as they were peaceful.
So far, police have resisted releasing police dashcam and body camera footage of Scott’s death this week. Charlotte- Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said yesterday that releasing the footage of Scott’s killing could undermine the investigation. He told reporters the video will be made public when he believes there is a “compelling reason” to do so.
“You shouldn’t expect it to be released,” Putney said. “I’m not going to jeopardise the investigation.”
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