Charlotte police to release video of fatal shooting after protests

Charlotte police will release body camera and dashboard videos showing the fatal shooting of a black man that triggered protests in the North Carolina city, but the footage does not show the victim holding a gun, the head of the force said on Saturday.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney announced the release of the video at a briefing, following days of demonstrations at which protesters demanded that authorities allow the public to see clips of the Tuesday shooting.
Putney said evidence showed that Keith Scott, who was killed on Tuesday, was holding a gun when he was shot by a police officer, but that the videos themselves were “insufficient” to prove that.
“There is no definitive visual evidence that he had a gun in his hand, you can see something in the hand, and that he pointed it at an officer. That I did not visually see in the video,” Putney said. “But what we do see is compelling evidence that, when you put all the pieces together, supports that.”
The news conference came as demonstrators on Saturday mounted a fifth day of protests in Charlotte. They called for the end of emergency measures imposed on the city this week, the removal of National Guard troops and for officers involved in the incident to be prosecuted.
The shooting of Scott, a 43-year-old father of seven, was the latest in a series of deadly police encounters across the country in recent years that has raised questions about the use of force by US law enforcement against African-Americans and other minorities.
Chief Putney said that police officers had arrived at the apartment complex where Scott was in a car in order to serve a warrant on a different person. They saw that Scott was in possession of marijuana, Putney said, publicizing a new element in the case, and then noticed a gun.
“They look in the car and they see the marijuana, they don’t act. They see the gun and they think they need to,” Putney said.
Police have continually said that Scott was armed at the time of the encounter, a contention that his family has disputed and which gave rise to the protests and rioting in Charlotte.
A video taken by Scott’s wife and released to the public on Friday did not provide an answer on whether Scott had a gun.

’IN POSSESSION OF HANDGUN’
Still, Putney on Saturday said all evidence gathered by police made clear what happened.
“Yes, based on the totality of what we see, he absolutely was in possession of a handgun,” Putney said. “The footage itself will not create in anyone’s mind absolute certainty as to what this case represents and what the outcome should be,” Putney added.
Earlier in the week, Putney said that police were not ready to release the video because doing so could compromise the investigation into the shooting. On Saturday, he said that after speaking with state investigators he concluded the video could now be released without “adversely impacting” the investigation.
Protesters have called for officers involved in the shooting to face criminal charges, but Putney said, “Officers are absolutely not being charged by me at this point.
“But again, there’s another investigation ongoing,” he added, referring to the probe by state police.
Putney said police would not release all of the video footage of the incident, only the “pertinent” parts.
Scott was shot by Officer Brentley Vinson, who has been placed on paid administrative leave. Vinson is also black. Putney said he knew of only one officer firing his weapon.
The two-minute video recorded by Scott’s wife on a cell phone showed the scene of the shooting, but not the shooting itself. In the video, Mrs. Scott can be heard pleading with officers to hold fire as they confronted her husband in a parked car outside the apartment complex.
She can be heard telling officers “Don’t shoot him! He has no weapon” as they yell at Scott, “Drop the gun!” The footage captures the sound of four shots but does not show Scott being hit.

Source: Arab News