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New law may complicate release of Charlotte police video

None of the video evidence to emerge so far have been able to show whether or not Scott was armed or pointing a gun at officers before he was shot.

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A video of Scott’s shooting, recorded by his wife, was released Friday by his family.

In the video released by the family, Scott’s wife also tells police that her husband had a TBI, or traumatic brain injury, and had just taken “his medicine”.

During the same news conference, Roberts said she believes the video should be released, but “the question is on the timing”.

Family and witnesses dispute this account and say that Scott, who was disabled with a brain injury, was holding a book while he waited in his auto for his son to get off the bus.

The two-minute video recorded by Scott’s wife, Rakeyia, showed events leading up to the shooting but not the shooting itself.

Putney said Friday that releasing the footage of Scott’s death could inflame the situation.

Hillary Clinton has chose to delay a planned Sunday visit to Charlotte after Mayor Jennifer Roberts on Friday urged the presidential candidates to postpone trips, the campaign announced late Friday.

However, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney told reporters on Friday that releasing the footage now could harm the investigation led by the state.

Hundreds of demonstrators were also marching in the southern city of Atlanta in a protest calling for police reform organized by the NAACP, the black community’s main civil rights organization.

Several activist groups gathered to demonstrate in Charlotte Saturday afternoon, united by calls for government transparency and to urge change in light of recent police shootings nationwide of unarmed black men.

The witness who shot the latest video to surface says officers put cuffs on Scott as he lay face down on the pavement.

Charlotte is the latest US city to be shaken by protests and recriminations over the death of a black man at the hands of police, a list that includes Baltimore, Milwaukee, Chicago, New York and Ferguson, Missouri.

The Democratic candidate for president, Hillary Clinton, canceled a proposed visit to the city, having called for the dashboard and body camera footage to be released.

“I know the expectation is that video footage can be the panacea and I can tell you that is not the case”, Putney said, adding that he would eventually agree with the release of the video.

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The demonstrations in Charlotte spread to Atlanta on Friday night, with about 250 protesters taking to the streets of downtown Atlanta, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The circumstances of his death, including whether he was holding a gun, as police have said, have come under intense scrutiny. “We must ensure justice and work to bridge divides”, she said on Twitter on Friday.

A protester holds a banner against the North Carolina National Guard as he marches in the streets of Charlotte N.C. Friday Sept. 23 2016 over Tuesday's fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott