CHARLOTTE COPS RELEASE VIDEOS
Charlotte, N.C., police last night responded to fierce public pressure and released scenes from two videos showing the fatal police shooting of 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott that has roiled the city with days of street protests — and has left gaping wounds and unanswered questions, activists said.
“The delay was unnecessary and perhaps added to some of the tension that the city of Charlotte has been experiencing,” Jonathan Jones, director of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition, told the Herald last night. “I don’t know if they’re going to answer everybody’s questions. There are some things that are ambiguous, but it helps the public get a clearer understanding of what happened.”
Police said Scott, who was black, had a gun, though residents have said he was unarmed.
In a police dashboard camera video, Scott could be seen backing away from his SUV with his hands down, and it’s unclear if there’s anything in his hands. Four shots are heard, and he falls to the ground.
From a different angle, police body camera footage shows an officer approach with his gun drawn and another officer already pointing his gun at Scott. When Scott comes into view, he has his hands at his side and is standing outside of his SUV. The body camera footage doesn’t show the moment the shots are fired, and Scott next comes into view already on the ground.
The footage was not released in its entirety, Jones noted.
“All the video and the pieces I’ve seen are short segments of each,” Jones said. “I’d still encourage the Charlotte police department to release all that’s possible.”
Police also released photos of a gun that they said was retrieved at the scene, adding that it contained Scott’s DNA and fingerprints. They said the gun was loaded and Scott was wearing an ankle holster.
Asked whether he expected the footage to calm protesters, Charlotte Chief Kerr Putney responded: “The footage itself will not create in anyone’s mind absolute certainty as to what this case represents and what the outcome should be. The footage only supports all of the other information” such as physical evidence and statements from witnesses and officers.
Putney said that his officers didn’t break the law but noted that the state is continuing its investigation.
Scott’s mother, Vernita Scott Walker, told the Herald earlier this week she wants Charlotte police to “tell the truth and stop lying.”
“Everybody is not a killer and they need to stop judging all young black men as one,” she said. “Everybody is human.”
The city has been on edge since Scott’s shooting death. The demonstrations reached a violent crescendo Wednesday before the National Guard was called in a day later to maintain order.
The next two nights of protests were free of property damage and violence, with organizers stressing a message of peace at the end of the week.