“I want to thank the president for offering his assistance and listening to some of the challenges that we’re facing right now in Charlotte”, McCrory said. He said that the State Bureau of Investigation has initiated an independent investigation into the officer-involved shooting.
Advertisement
But neighbors and his family say he only had a book. Police have said Scott was out of the vehicle, and that he refused demands to drop a gun he was holding. Scott’s family quickly challenged the police account of the fatal shooting, saying he was not armed and that Scott, a father of seven, was holding a book and waiting for his son to be dropped off from school.
Authorities have said the officer who shot Scott, Brentley Vinson, was in plainclothes and not wearing a body camera.
The officer who shot Scott, Brently Vinson, has meanwhile been placed on leave, which is standard procedure in such cases. Citing cases such as the shootings of Walter Scott, where video upends the police narrative of events, many activists argue that the only way they can know for sure what happened in an incident is if officials release video.
Several businesses in uptown such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Duke Energy told their employees to work from home Thursday.
Mayor Jennifer Roberts and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief spoke to the media on Thursday following a violent night of protests in Charlotte.
“It’s not subject to the new law”, Roberts told The Post during an interview Wednesday night in which she said she planned to view the video Thursday. The governor declared a state of emergency Wednesday night and called on help from the National Guard, but no Guard members were present on the street Thursday morning.
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency during Wednesday night’s rioting, in which one man was critically wounded by a gunshot.
The US federal Justice Department also agreed to send a team of trained peacekeepers to Charlotte.
The department’s Community Relations Service has been deployed to other cities roiled by tense flare-ups between police and residents. “At this point, there is speculation because the videos have not been released”.
The unrest that erupted in recent years in places such as Baltimore, Milwaukee and Ferguson, Missouri, had largely bypassed Charlotte – until now.
In 2013, Charlotte police charged one of their own, Randall Kerrick with voluntary manslaughter within days, after the white officer shot an unarmed black man who had been in a wreck and was looking for help.
The case was dropped previous year after a jury could not reach a decision, and the city of Charlotte reportedly paid $2.25m to settle a lawsuit with Mr Ferrell’s family.
Police used tear gas to break up protesters, the Associated Press reported.
Protesters smashed windows at the Charlotte Convention Center and at an office tower next to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Police have said Scott raised a gun toward an officer. Videos and pictures on Twitter showed reporters and other people being attacked. Bamberg gave no details on what the wife saw.
Advertisement
He also said during a news conference Thursday that the video does not definitively show Scott pointing a gun at anyone, though police maintain Scott refused commands to drop the weapon. They have been promised sight of that and if it were to soften their insistence that Mr. Scott did not have a gun, then passions could subside.
