Family sees video of police shooting
CHARLOTTE: The family of the North Carolina black man whose shooting death by police triggered two nights of riots viewed video of the episode yesterday, but a lawyer for the family of Keith Scott said it was unclear whether Scott was holding a gun when he was killed.
Scott’s family called on police in Charlotte, North Carolina, to immediately release the two police videos that they saw, adding pressure on police to make them public.
The rioting that has engulfed the city claimed a victim yesterday, as city officials said a protester who was shot on Wednesday had died.
With hundreds of protesters gathering in the city for a third straight night, the city yesterday imposed a curfew from midnight to 6am local time. National Guard troops fortified a robust police throughout the centre of town, helping to quell the crowd.
Scott, 43, was killed on Tuesday by a black police officer as part of a police search for another man. Police contend Scott was carrying a gun when he approached officers and ignored repeated orders to drop it. His family previously said he was holding a book, not a firearm.
His death is the latest to stir passions in the US over the police use of deadly force against black men. The family’s viewing of the video came on the same day that a police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was charged with first-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man whose car had broken down and blocked a road.
Earlier yesterday, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency in Charlotte and called in the National Guard.
Major Gerald Smith of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said police would not enforce the curfew imposed by the city as long as the protests remained peaceful.
“It seems to me tonight is more peaceful than last night,” Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts said.
Scott’s family said it still had “more questions than answers” after watching two police body camera videos of the officer shooting him dead.
“While police did give him several commands, he did not aggressively approach them or raise his hands at members of law enforcement at any time,” Justin Bamberg, an attorney for the family, said.
“It is impossible to discern from the videos what, if anything, Mr Scott is holding in his hands,” the statement said.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney has said the video supported the police account of what happened but does not definitively show Scott pointing a gun at officers.
Scott’s killing was the 214th of a black person by US police this year out of an overall total of 821, according to Mapping Police Violence, an anti-police violence group. – Reuters