Protesters took to the streets for a third night in the United States city of Charlotte on Thursday amid heavy security aimed at preventing more clashes over the fatal police shooting of a black man.
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“While police did give him several commands, he did not aggressively approach them or raise his hands at members of law enforcement at any time.”, the statement said.
In a statement, Executive Director Karen Anderson said, “In the interest of transparency and accountability, and particularly in light of conflicting accounts about the shooting, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department should quickly release any and all footage it has of the events leading up to the shooting, as well as the shooting itself”.
Protesters also descended upon I-277, as they did the previous two nights. In Tulsa, Okla., on Thursday, prosecutors charged a white officer with manslaughter for killing an unarmed black man on a city street last week. His family previously said he was holding a book, not a firearm.
Protests turned violent on Wednesday night after gunshots were reported and one individual was rushed to the hospital.
The protests began on Tuesday night, following Mr Scott’s death.
Despite demands from the family and community for police to release dashcam and body camera footage to the public, police are resisting such a move.
Kristine Slade, 19, a University of North Carolina at Charlotte student, joined the protests Tuesday night, kneeling in front of a police line with her hands up in the air.
Numerous protesters dispute the official account of Scott’s death, but Putney told reporters he would not release the video at this time, in part to protect the investigation. A black police officer shot an armed black man at an apartment complex Tuesday, authorities said, prompting angry street protests late into the night.
“It is not a very clear picture, and the gun in question is a small gun and it was not easy to see with the way the motion was happening”, she told “Anderson Cooper 360”.
Protesters in Charlotte who spilled onto an interstate highway are being pushed back by police officers in riot gear.
Charlotte, N.C., imposed a midnight curfew Thursday as protests continued for a third night following the killing of a black man by police.
Police said they did recover a gun.
The perceived lack of transparency has fueled widespread anger in Charlotte, prompting McCrory to declare a state of emergency overnight. The officer has been placed on leave while that shooting is investigated.
WSOC-TV, Charlotte, reported the family issued a statement, saying viewing two police body camera videos was extremely hard. Just this week, Tulsa police let the public see video of the disputed September 16 shooting, though the footage left important questions unanswered.
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“There must be transparency and the videos must be released”, the Rev. William Barber, who sits on the national board of the NAACP, told a news conference. “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”.
