Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said earlier that the video would only be made public when he believed there was a “compelling reason” to do so.
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The family claims the footage proves Scott had not been behaving in an aggressive manner and was obeying police commands. The family was not present, he says, because they were still grieving. But Putney said Scott was armed and no book was found at the scene.
When asked whether he favored releasing the videos, he said: “It’s a matter of when”.
Roberts, Charlotte’s mayor, also watched the body camera video and described it as “ambiguous” in an interview on MSNBC.
Largely peaceful protests dwindled early on Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina, as police chose not to enforce a curfew prompted by two nights of riots that engulfed the city after a black man was shot to death by a police officer.
Keith Lamont Scott’s wife and other members of her family viewed two videos captured by police dashboard and body cameras that showed Mr. Scott’s shooting death.
“It was incredibly hard for members of the Scott family to view these videos, but as a matter of the greater good and transparency, the Scott family asks that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department publicly immediately release both of the videos they watched today”, the family statement read.
“And if you’re not aware, drugs are a very, very big factor in what you’re watching on television at night”, he said during a speech in Pittsburgh.
“I’m not going to jeopardize the investigation”, he told reporters.
Meanwhile, an undisclosed number of National Guardsmen assembled in Charlotte, sent in by Gov. Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency in the city.
Charlotte is just the latest USA 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.
In contrast to the tension in Charlotte, calm reigned in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where police released a video of the fatal shooting of Terence Crutcher, shot by police last week after his vehicle broke down on a highway.
Several buildings were damaged in the chaos, including the NASCAR Hall of Fame and the downtown Charlotte Hyatt hotel. Officials later said he was still alive, but in critical condition at an area hospital. The officer has been placed on leave while that shooting is investigated. Police Capt. Mike Campagna told reporters that officers would not seek to arrest curfew violators as long as they were peaceful.
“To the degree that they are able to release info that is pertinent to the community to give a full and accurate account of what happened …”
“The individuals who saw this maintain that they saw him holding a book”. He was at the intersection in question to observe interactions between police and the public, he said.
“What I can tell is what I saw, the video does not give me absolute definitive visual evidence that would confirm that a person is pointing a gun”.
Putney said, however, that the “totality” of the evidence supports the police conclusion that officers confronting Scott faced an imminent, deadly threat.
His family was shown the footage Thursday and demanded that police release it to the public.
After the gunshots, Scott can be seen lying face-down on the ground while his wife says “he better live”.
“We’ve seen videos leaked online about individuals losing their lives before the family has the opportunity to sometimes even find out”, Bamberg said.
“What we’ve seen in too many situations now is that the videos tell the truth and the police who were involved in the shooting tell lies”, said Randolph McLaughlin, a professor at Pace University School of Law.
The video has not been released, despite calls from some protesters and Scott’s family. “And it starts with everybody holding each other accountable and policing yourselves”.
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State Sen. Kevin Matthews, who represents the north Tulsa community where the shooting took place, credits Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan for organizing a meeting with black leaders and the victim’s family two days after the shooting and showing them the video before it was released to the public.
