Family releases shocking video of Charlotte shooting
CHARLOTTE, Sept 24 (AFP) - The family of the African American man whose death has triggered days of unrest in Charlotte, North Carolina has released dramatic video of the police shooting, raising pressure on authorities to make their own footage public.
Police have refused to release body-cam and dash-cam video of Tuesday's shooting, which they say shows that Keith Lamont Scott posed a threat to officers.
His death is the latest in a string of police-involved killings of black men that have fueled outrage across America.
North Carolina's governor declared a state of emergency in the southern US city after it was rocked by violence-marred protests.
Several hundred demonstrators were out again for a fourth night on Friday calling for the release of the videos amid a greater presence of National Guard troops, but the atmosphere was calmer than during previous days.
A curfew beginning at midnight (0400 GMT) went into effect for a second night, after protesters defied the order on Thursday.
Hundreds of demonstrators were also marching in the southern city of Atlanta in a protest calling for police reform organized by the NAACP, the black community's main civil rights organization.
Charlotte's case has also touched the US presidential race, with Mayor Jennifer Roberts asking both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to delay visits, citing “very stretched resources for security.”
Clinton tweeted that police should release the footage “without delay.” President Barack Obama called for understanding as he celebrated the opening of the Smithsonian's African American museum in Washington this weekend.
The museum “allows all of us as Americans to put our current circumstances in a historical context,” the first black US president said. Scott was shot and killed at a Charlotte apartment complex during an encounter with police searching for another person wanted for arrest.
Police say he had a handgun. His family says he was holding a book.
The two-minute smartphone footage filmed by Rakeyia Scott and released by her lawyers does not show the shooting itself -- and does not conclusively answer the question of whether he was armed -but captures the moments surrounding it as she pleads with officers not to open fire.
It is also unclear whether police, a short distance away, could hear her speaking to them and to her husband during the altercation. “Don't shoot him, he has no weapon!” she is heard saying.
“He has a TBI, he's not going to do anything to you guys,” she says, presumably referring to a traumatic brain injury.
Neighbors said Scott, 43, was disabled and had a stutter.