A WOMAN SMEARS BLOOD ON A RIOT SHIELD IN CHARLOTTE, N.C., WHERE PRESSURE IS MOUNTING ON POLICE TO RELEASE VIDEO OF THE FATAL SHOOTING OF KEITH LAMONT SCOTT.
• Police refused under mounting pressure Thursday to release video that could resolve wildly different accounts of the shooting of a black man, as the National Guard arrived to try to head off a third night of violence in Charlotte.
The family of Keith Lamont Scott, 43, demanded police release the video after they were shown the footage at their request. The family’s lawyer, Justin Bamberg, said he couldn’t tell whether Scott was holding a gun.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said that releasing police dashcam and body camera footage of the 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 jeopardize the investigation.”
An undisclosed number of National Guardsmen assembled in Charlotte, sent in by Gov. Pat McCrory after a second consecutive night of racial unrest that seemed at odds with Charlotte’s image as a diverse, forward-looking banking capital of the New South. It is the latest U.S. city to be shaken by protests and recriminations over the death of a black man at the hands of police.
Scores of rioters Wednesday night attacked reporters and others, set fires and smashed windows of hotels, office buildings and restaurants in the bustling downtown section.
Forty-four people were arrested, and one protester who was shot died in hospital Thursday; city officials said police did not shoot the man and no arrests have been made in 26-year-old Justin Carr’s death.
Before nightfall Thursday, the police chief said he saw no need for a curfew.
Demonstrators have been demanding answers in Scott’s killing, with some carrying signs that read “Release the tapes.”
Police have said Scott was shot to death Tuesday by a black officer after he disregarded loud, repeated warnings to drop his gun. Neighbours, though, have said he was holding only a book.
Putney said the video does not contain “absolute, definitive evidence that would confirm that a person was pointing a gun.” But he said: “When taken in the totality of all the other evidence, it supports what we said.”
Bamberg watched the video with the slain man’s relatives. He said Scott got out of his vehicle calmly.
“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. It is impossible to discern from the videos what, if anything, Mr. Scott is holding in his hands,” Bamberg said.
Scott was shot as he walked slowly backward with his hands by his side, Bamberg said.