GA. VID GUY BLOCKED VIC
Arbery-slay susp spilled to cops, cam shows
The man who filmed the fatal February shooting of Ahmaud Arbery admitted to police moments afterward he didn’t just happen to be at the scene of the horrific slaying — and tried to “block” the Black victim’s escape, newly published body-camera footage shows.
William “Roddie” Bryan, one of three men facing murder charges, told cops he was “not necessarily” just passing by and was helping co-defendants Gregory and Travis McMichael ambush the 25-yearold Arbery in a rural neighborhood in southeast Georgia.
“So, I hollered at them and said, ‘Y’all got him?’ And he just kept running. He was full-blown running,” Bryan told local Glynn County, Ga., police, the body cam footage shows.
The footage, obtained by Jacksonville, Fla., TV station Action News Jax, contradicts Bryan’s previous attempt to distance himself from the McMichaels with claims that he was merely a witness.
“I truthfully need to be cleared of this because I have nothing to do with it,” he told The Associated Press in an interview days before his arrest in late May.
Bryan’s cell phone video sparked a national outcry and accusations of racial profiling when it appeared on social media more than two months after the Feb. 23 shooting. Prosecutors and the victim’s family say Arbery was jogging near his Brunswick home when was chased and killed by three white men.
The three suspects, arrested after the video went viral, say they went after Arbery because he fit the description of a burglary suspect.
Travis McMichael, who fired the fatal shots, claims Arbery attacked him and tried take his gun after being confronted that day.
Defense attorneys say the shooting had nothing to do with race and that the suspects were trying to carry out a citizen’s arrest.
The new body cam footage shows a rattled Travis McMichael pacing back and forth as cops questioned him about the killing. His father, meanwhile, recalled asking his son not to shoot before the incident turned deadly.
“I said, ‘Travis, don’t shoot, don’t do anything,’ ” the elder McMichael told police. “The guy turns and comes at him, and they start wrestling and Travis shoots him right in the damn chest. ... The guy was trying to take the shotgun away from him.”
The video also shows Bryan detailing his actions as he helped the McMichaels ambush Arbery.
“I must’ve passed him because I pulled out of my driveway, was going to try to block him, but he was going all around,” the suspect said, adding that he “made a few moves” at Arbery.
One of those moves was hitting Arbery with his truck, according to a Georgia investigator who testified in the case in June. Special Agent Richard Dial told a Glynn County court at the time that investigators who examined Bryan’s pickup truck found a dent, fibers from Arbery’s white shirt and handprints.
The suspects are being held without bail. They are charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
A trial date has not been set.