The video will only be shown to the family of Keith Scott, 43, who was shot dead by a black police officer in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Tuesday afternoon, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said on Thursday.
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“It was incredibly hard for members of the Scott family to view these videos, but as a matter of greater good and transparency the Scott family asks that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department publicly [and] immediately release both of the videos they watched today”, said the statement tweeted by WCNC-TV.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly on “The Kelly File” that the decision to release the video was not up to him, but added “I think [releasing the footage] is probably the better option right now”.
The officers were searching for a suspect who had an outstanding warrant when they encountered Scott, according to a police statement, but he was not the person the officers sought. “My understanding from speaking with the family is that he didn’t have a gun and didn’t carry one”.
But police later said the curfew would not be enforced as long as protests are peaceful – and that was evident, as demonstrators remained in the streets well past midnight without any police intervention.
“There’s nothing in that video that shows him acting aggressively, threatening or maybe risky”, Bamberg said.
AttorneyJustin Bamberg, who is representing Keith Scott’s family, said they do not condone the violence in Charlotte.
He says they don’t know what’s on the video, only what law enforcement says on the video.
“You’re still going to have that entity that’s going to pick that video apart and put it out there that this was done wrong or that was done wrong”, said Charlotte Fraternal Order of Police spokesperson Todd Walther. However, he did agree with the family on one point: it’s unclear from the videos if Scott was holding a gun or a book, as some protesters claim.
A total of 16 police officers and seven civilians have been injured during the riot.
(AP Photo/Chuck Burton). Demonstrators sit on a street during a protest of Tuesday’s fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, N.C. on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016. Police said Scott was armed, exiting then re-entering his vehicle with a gun.
“The grievance in their mind is – the animus, the anger – they hate white people because white people are successful and they’re not”, Pittenger said.
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Scott was shot as he walked slowly backward with his hands by his side, Bamberg said. “It is impossible to discern from the videos what, if anything, Mr. Scott is holding in his hands”. “So what I can tell you, though, is when taken in the totality of all the other evidence, it supports what we’ve heard and the version of the truth that we gave about the circumstances that happened that led to the death of Mr. Scott”.
