In the footage, taken by wife Rakeyia Scott, she tells husband Keith Scott to get out of his auto as Charlotte police surround him.
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The family of Keith Lamont Scott released cell-phone video footage today of the moments before and after the 43-year-old black man was shot and killed by police officers in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Police said an officer shot Scott after he failed to heed commands to drop a gun.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: Keith, don’t let them break the windows. “He just took his medicine”, she tells officers. Police have said Scott was armed, but witnesses say he held only a book.
“These are the police officers that shot my husband, and he better live”. Scott’s death was the latest in a string of of police killings of black men in America, which have unleashed protests and riots across the country.
After darkness fell, dozens of people took to the streets to urge police to release dashboard and body camera video that could show more clearly what happened.
About 200 to 300 protesters gathered in Atlanta on Friday with plans to march to the Martin Luther King, Jr.
Protesters have dismissed police officers’ claims that Scott had a gun. Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts on Friday also called for release of the police videos, in an interview with CNN. The video doesn’t give a complete version of the encounter on Tuesday, which is already under way when the roughly two minutes of footage begins.
Keith was the 214th black person killed by United States police this year out of a total of 821, according to monitoring site Mapping Police Violence.
The Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign initially said she would travel Sunday to Charlotte, where protests have broken out after the police shooting. “It’s a matter of when and a matter of sequence”. The family said the video could not conclusively demonstrate whether the victim had a handgun, as police have said.
The video was provided to THV11’s CBS affiliate WBTV and other media outlets by the family’s lawyer Friday afternoon.
Whether Keith Scott had a gun remains an issue in the case.
Charlotte’s case has also touched the USA presidential race, with Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign announcing her plan to visit the city on Sunday before postponing it to a week later after Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts asked both major candidates to delay visits, citing “very stretched resources for security”.
“We must continue in the pursuit of the truth while also continuing the important work of bringing our communities and law enforcement together to build trust and safety for all”, Cooper said. He’s not going to do anything to you.
The UN working group recommended the U.S. create a reliable national system to track killings and excessive use of force by law enforcement officials, as well as ending the practice of racial profiling.
Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency Wednesday after the second night of violence, calling out the National Guard. They did not disclose Carr’s age.
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RAKEYIA SCOTT: Keith, don’t do it.
