Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police chief Kerr Putney, right, gestures as Charlotte mayor Jennifer Roberts, left, watches in Charlotte, N.C. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 during a news conference concerning protests and the investigation int.
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Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police released the body cam and dash cam video of the Keith Scott shooting Saturday evening. It’s unclear if there was anything in the man’s hands.
The footage was released today after several days of demonstrations that have coalesced around demands that the public see the video.
From a different angle, police body camera footage shows an officer approach with his gun drawn and another officer already pointing his gun at Scott. As he is backing up, four shots can be heard, and Scott can be seen falling to the ground.
Police also released photos showing what they say showed a handgun and marijuana that were in Scott’s possession.
“Before a firearm can be discharged by an officer and be in compliance with their policy the subject they are trying or about to shoot has to be engaged in aggravated active aggression which they define as the imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death to an officer or another innocent bystander”, Monnett said, ” Their policy talks about the discharge of a weapon not the presence of a weapon”.
In one of the police videos, a dashboard-mounted camera from a squad auto showed Scott exiting his vehicle and then backing away from it. Police shout to him to drop a gun, but it is not clear that Scott is holding anything. Mr Scott gets out and starts walking backwards before shots are fired. From the start, police have said Scott refused officers’ demands to drop a gun. When Mr Scott comes into view, his hands are at his side and he is standing beside his SUV.
The dramatic video footage released shows officers surrounding Scott with his hands at his side before shots are fired and he buckles to the ground.
An attorney for Scott’s family, Justin Bamberg, said the footage leaves questions unanswered more than it provides clarity.
“One of the biggest questions”, Bamberg said, “is do those actions, do those precious seconds, justify this shooting?”.
“What we know and what you should know about him is that he was an American citizen who deserved better”, he added. “The footage only supports all the other information, physical evidence, the statements from witnesses and officers and all of the other information, scientific and physical, that create the whole picture”. “I have been assured by the State Bureau of Investigation that the release will have no material impact on the independent investigation”.
Neighbors have said there was no gun, but Chief Kerr Putney has been adamant the footage would back up his officers’ initial claims.
On Saturday, Putney released to the public footage from one of the officers’ body cameras, as well as dashboard camera.
They were parked near Mr. Scott and saw that he had marijuana.
They observed marijuana – “that was not the priority” he earlier told reporters – and things changed once officers spotted the gun.
The voice of Scott’s wife, who was filming the situation on her cellphone, can be heard in the video, telling officers her husband doesn’t have a gun.
He said that and other evidence they were releasing would corroborate their account of how things unfolded, including that Keith Lamont Scott was holding a gun when he was shot.
“When an officer tried to break the SUV’s window “to make an arrest”, Scott exited the vehicle with the gun and backed away from the vehicle while continuing to ignore officers’ repeated loud verbal commands to drop the gun”, the statement said.
CHARLOTTE police have released a narrative and video of what they say happened in the moments leading up to the fatal shooting of Keith Lamont Scott.
Before the release, hundreds massed outside at the Charlotte police department building on Saturday afternoon chanting the name “Keith Scott”. They also chanted, “No tapes, no peace” and raised signs including one reading “Stop Killing The Black People”.
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The city has been on edge ever since Scott’s shooting death on Tuesday.
