Family of black man shot dead by police want shooting videos released after seeing them
Charlotte police chief says releasing videos to public would 'jeopardize the investigation'
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- Charlotte, N.C., sees 3rd night of protests
- City's mayor announced Thursday he was imposing an overnight curfew starting at midnight
The lawyer for relatives of a black man killed by Charlotte, N.C., police says he couldn't tell after watching police video if the man had anything in his hands when he was shot.
Keith Scott's family was shown the dashboard and body camera footage by police Thursday. After viewing it, attorney Justin Bamberg said in a statement the family wants the video released to the public immediately.
Bamberg said Scott is seen in the video calmly exiting his vehicle Tuesday, and while police give him several commands, he does not approach officers. Bamberg said Scott's hands were by his side and he was slowly walking backward when he was shot.
Charlotte police Chief Kerr Putney had said earlier on Thursday the video won't be immediately released to the public, saying that releasing police dashcam and body camera footage of the shooting could undermine the investigation. He told reporters the video will be made public when he believes there is a "compelling reason" to do so.
"You shouldn't expect it to be released," Putney said. "I'm not going to jeopardize the investigation."
Could answer questions
The video could be key to narrowing the chasm between police, who say Scott refused repeated commands to drop his gun, and residents who say he was unarmed. Some residents have said say he was holding a book, not a weapon, as he waited for his son to get off the school bus.
It's not clear what the body cameras worn by three officers who were present during the shooting may have captured.
Meanwhile, the state prosecutor in Charlotte will ask the State Bureau of Investigation to look into the shooting.
District attorney R. Andrew Murray said in a statement Thursday that he was doing so at the request of Scott's family.
Putney also said there are no plans to order a curfew in the North Carolina community, which has been rocked by two nights of violent protests.
"We don't see a need to definitively shut the city down," he said.
Thursday's press conference was part of an effort by authorities to quell public anger after Scott's shooting.
Vigil turns deadly
Wednesday's dusk prayer vigil turned into a second night of violence, with police firing tear gas at angry protesters and a man being fatally shot.
Police spokesman Keith Trietley said in a news release that 26-year-old Justin Carr died Thursday at the hospital after being shot in the head the night before.
Carr was shot as protesters clashed with police in riot gear protecting the Omni Hotel about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. City officials said Carr was not shot by an officer.
Putney said detectives are determined to find who fired the fatal shots. No arrests have been made.
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency in the city, and called in the National Guard and state troopers to help restore order and protect the downtown area.
By early Thursday, hotel and restaurant employees and security guards had started cleaning up dozens of broken windows.
But the city isn't entirely back to normal. Bank of America told its thousands of employees at its 60-storey downtown skyscraper to stay home Thursday.
Wednesday night protesters shouted "Black lives matter" and "Hands up; don't shoot" while cursing at officers with bicycles blocking intersections in Charlotte's flashy and vibrant downtown. As the protesters approached the Omni Hotel, officers in riot gear lined up outside arm in arm and a few marchers threw bottles and clods of dirt.
Immediately after the shooting in the crowd, police began firing flash grenades and protesters threw fireworks. Police then fired tear gas, and the crowd of hundreds dispersed.
But not all the marchers left. Police in riot gear then began marching arm in arm through downtown Charlotte intersections, shooting tear gas at people who charged them. At least one protester knocked down a television reporter during a live shot and several other media outlets said on Twitter they had employees taken to hospitals.
Police adamant Scott posed threat
The police chief said Wednesday officers were serving arrest warrants on another person when they saw Scott get out of a vehicle with a handgun. A black plainclothes officer in a vest emblazoned "Police" shot Scott after the officer and other uniformed members of the force made "loud, clear" demands that he drop the gun, the chief said.
Putney was adamant that Scott posed a threat, even if he didn't point his weapon at officers, and said a gun was found next to the dead man. "I can tell you we did not find a book," the chief said.
Neighbours, though, said that the officer who fired was white and that Scott had his hands in the air.
No cellphone video has emerged on social media, as happened in other cases around the country.
Video obtained and verified by the AP, which was recorded right after Scott's shooting, shows someone lying in a pool of blood as people scream and a voice yells for someone to call for help. People are then told to back up from the scene.
The plainclothes officer, identified as Brentley Vinson, a two-year member of the department, has been placed on leave, standard procedure in such cases.
Scott has a lengthy criminal record, including convictions in Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina. Texas records showed he was convicted of evading arrest with a vehicle in 2005, and several months later, of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The unrest took many by surprise in Charlotte, the banking capital of the South with a population of 830,000 people, about 35 per cent of them black. The city managed to pull through a racially charged shooting three years ago without the unrest that erupted in recent years in such places as Baltimore, Milwaukee and Ferguson, Mo.
In 2013, Charlotte police charged one of their own, Randall Kerrick, with voluntary manslaughter days after the white officer shot an unarmed black man who had been in a wreck and was looking for help. The jury deadlocked and the charge was dropped last summer. There were a few protests but no violence.