CAROLINA COP VIDS INCONCLUSIVE
Cops release videos, questions linger Not clear if Charlotte vic holding gun
POLICE IN NORTH Carolina released body and dashboard camera footage of the controversial shooting of a black man Saturday after a week of sometimes riotous demonstrations and calls by the public and politicians to see the video.
The dramatic footage of the Charlotte shooting of Keith Scott shed little light on what led to his fatal confrontation with cops — or whether or not he was holding a gun at the time.
Police maintained that Scott was “an imminent deadly threat” to officers, although the video released never shows him raising his arms in a threatening way toward the cops. It’s also unclear what is in his hand.
On the dash-cam video, Scott exits his SUV and takes a few steps backward.
He appears to be holding something in his left hand.
Seconds later, four shots ring out and the 43-year-old crumples to the ground.
Charlotte Police Chief Kerr Putney said he decided to release the footage after receiving assurances from the State Bureau of Investigation that it would not impact their independent probe of the shooting.
“The footage itself will not create in anyone’s mind absolute certainty as to what this case represents and what the outcome should be,” Putney said. “The footage only supports all of the other information” such as physical evidence and statements from witnesses and officers, he added.
The video from the body camera, worn by a uniformed Charlotte police officer, only shows Scott for a moment, with his right arm by his side.
The cops shout “handcuffs” as they converge on the wounded man. Scott can be heard moaning in pain as the cop wearing the bodycam leans over his body.
There is no audio for the first 25 seconds of the video and none of the shots can be heard.
“Mr. Scott does not appear to be acting aggressive,” Scott family attorney Justin Bamberg said of the video. “He doesn’t lunge at the officers. It appears he has his hands by his side. The moment he is shot, he is passively stepping back.”
Police released three photographs along with the videos.
One shows a handgun, one appears to be a smoked marijuana joint, and another shows an ankle holster. Police said a lab analysis showed Scott’s DNA and fingerprints were on the gun. Bamberg said it was the first time he had been shown any evidence of Scott having a gun.
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said that he supported Putney’s decision to release the tapes.
“I have been assured by the State Bureau of Investigation that the release will have no material impact on the independent investigation since most of the known witnesses have been interviewed,” he said in a release.
Putney said he would only release footage that is “relevant” to the case.
The videos, filmed by the dash cam and the body cam of an officer at the scene of the shooting, show the moments that led to Scott’s death at the hands of CharlotteMecklenburg Officer Brentley Vinson.
The footage was made public following four nights of protests in Charlotte as demonstrators took to the streets and demanded the recordings be released. On Saturday, demonstrators took their protest to the police department chanting “No tapes, no peace.”
National figures on both ends of the political spectrum joined the chorus of those demanding the footage to be released, including Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani.
Scott’s family viewed the police videos in private Thursday but said the tapes left them with more “questions than answers” regarding whether the shooting was justified.
Putney contended Saturday that there is “no single piece of evidence that proves the complexities” of the case as he offered new details on the fatal run-in.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg officers encountered Scott Tuesday afternoon in the parking lot of the Village at College Downs apartment complex.
Putney said cops saw Scott smoking pot. Two plainclothes officers, sitting in an unmarked police car, were at the scene to serve a warrant and planned to ignore Scott until one officer “observed Mr. Scott hold a gun up,” police said.
Scott’s family and witnesses said that he was reading a book in his car while waiting for his son to get off the school bus.
But police have said that Scott was brandishing a weapon and ignored multiple commands to drop the firearm before he was shot.
“They look in the car and they see the marijuana” and then later the officers “perceived a lethal threat by a handgun,” Putney said.
North Carolina is an open carry state, meaning residents can be openly armed in public without a permit or license.
Heartwrenching cell phone video shot by his wife did not conclusively prove whether Scott was armed or aiming a weapon at officers. The shooting itself was obscured in her 2-minute 44-second video.
On Friday, Putney said he would wait until he had “a compelling reason” to release the videos and felt the videos would further inflame the unrest in North Carolina’s largest city.
The State Bureau of Investigation has taken over the probe into whether Vinson, who is also black, was justified in killing Scott.