CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police released the body cam and dash cam videos showing the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, an African-American man who was killed earlier this week by a black police officer.
Charlotte-Mecklenberg police Chief Kerr Putney said during a press conference Saturday the videos show the “indisputable evidence that the facts we started with are the facts that remain.”
The video recorded by Keith Scott’s widow that was released publicly Friday didn’t factor into his decision to release police-recorded video of the fatal shooting, Putney said. “Our practice and our protocol is to release as soon as we can to inform.”
Tuesday’s shooting of Scott, a black man, by a black police officer at an apartment complex parking lot has spurred protests in Charlotte over the past four nights. It is among a number of shootings in recent years that have spurred debate about how and when police should use deadly force.
‘Don’t shoot him’
Scott’s widow released her cell phone recording of the shooting — the first to be released publicly — on Friday.
“Don’t shoot him. He has no weapon,” Rakeyia Scott can be heard saying in the footage.
A man repeatedly yells for someone — apparently Scott — to “drop the gun.”
“He doesn’t have a gun. He has a TBI (traumatic brain injury),” Rakeyia Scott says. “He’s not going to do anything to you guys. He just took his medicine.”
She goes on to say: “Keith, don’t let them break the windows; come on out the car. Keith! Don’t do it. Keith, get out the car. Keith! Keith, don’t you do it. Don’t you do it. Keith! Keith! Keith!”
The video shakes, and for a moment, a man in bright blue pants is seen near the surrounded vehicle. Gunshots are heard as Rakeyia Scott says again, “Don’t you do it.”
She then yells: “Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him? He better not be (expletive) dead.” Two people kneel over the figure with blue pants, apparently Keith Scott, now lying on the ground.
Police said an officer shot Scott after he failed to heed commands to drop a gun. His family has said he didn’t have a gun.
The gun police recovered from the scene was loaded and had Scott’s DNA and fingerprints on it. Police said Scott was wearing an ankle holster at the time of the shooting.
‘We want the public to take a look at this tape’
An attorney for the Scott family told CNN the tape was released because officials would not furnish the police footage to the public.
“We want the public to take a look at this tape and see what was in the video before he was shot, and what was there afterward, and ask how it got there,” family attorney Eduardo Curry said Friday.
Rakeyia Scott spoke of TBI in the tape, a reference to traumatic brain injury, Curry said. Scott’s family has said he was disabled after being in a near-death motorcycle crash last year.
“My understanding (is) that he had had an accident last year that was pretty traumatic, and as a result, made him at least disabled in some particular instances (and was) taking medication for it,” Curry said.
The Scott family said it released the video in the “name of truth and transparency,” according to a statement released by attorney Charles G. Monnett. “We encourage everyone to reserve judgment until all the facts are known. This is simply one step in our quest to find the truth for this family.”
Police allowed the family to see the police-held footage Thursday, before the public witnessed it.
On Friday, Charlotte-Mecklenberg police Chief Kerr Putney said he expected police videos of the shooting to be released eventually when investigators decide it can be done as part of a package with other information, so the videos aren’t made public without context.
That stance differed from the chief’s message a day earlier that the public shouldn’t expect the videos’ release.
Curry said he doesn’t expect Rakeyia Scott to speak publicly soon.
“Give the family a chance to mourn and grieve,” Curry said. “At some point we’ll revisit (whether she’ll speak).”
The shooting
A release from Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Department said the officers observed Scott rolling what they believed to be was a “marijuana blunt.”
A camera worn by a uniformed Charlotte police officer shows him running up to the encounter between other officers and Keith Lamont Scott.
The officer with the camera moves next to a white truck and pauses next to a plainclothes officer before running around to his left.
As the officer passes a gap between vehicles Scott is visible, with his right arm by his side.
“Due to the combination of illegal drugs and the gun Mr. Scott had in his possession, officers decided to take enforcement action for public safety concerns,” a statement from police read.
“Officer Vinson perceived Mr. Scott’s actions and movements as an imminent physical threat to himself and the other officers.”
The next time Scott is seen in the body camera video, he is lying on the ground with five officers converging on him.
There is no audio for the first 25 seconds of the video and none of the shots is heard. CNN is asking police whether the tapes have been selectively edited, either in audio or video.
Protests erupt in Charlotte
Hundreds of people have protested Scott’s shooting each of the past four nights in Charlotte.
Though Thursday and Friday were relatively peaceful, violence rocked the first two nights, with businesses vandalized and one protester shot dead in front of a hotel. Police arrested Rayquan Borum on Friday in connection with the fatal shooting of Justin Carr.
No arrests, injuries or property damage were reported from protests Friday night into Saturday morning, police said.
Central to the protests are the differing accounts between police and Scott’s family over what led to his death. Authorities said a black police officer fatally shot Scott, a father of seven, at the apartment complex as officers looked for another man named in a warrant they were trying to serve there.
Scott’s family has said he was reading a book and waiting for his son to come home from school at the time. Police said no book was found at the scene.
http://pix11.com/2016/09/24/charlotte-police-to-release-body-cam-dash-cam-videos-of-fatal-shooting-of-keith-lamont-scott/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=893129Dp8hQ
watch the empty space on the pavement from 1:39 to 1:47. as the cell phone pans slightly to the left, keep an eye on the black cop’s foot. then at time 1:48 a gun just happens to fall to the ground. Keith had no gun, it was planted on him. the “wife”? no, just a crisis actor. Agenda: confiscation of firearms.
Good eye. Any chance the cop moved it with his foot away from the body?
Edit: CNN vid is only 1:37
http://www.cnn.com/videos/justice/2016/09/23/charlotte-keith-lamont-scott-cell-video.cnn/video/playlists/charlotte-police-shooting-protest/
Second edit:
Found the original video on NBC.
It appears to show up from the shadow of the red shirt person when he moves. At first his shadow hits the foot of the cop standing next to the victim, then his shadow after movement is further away and the gun appears from the shadow.
Something does fall to the ground earlier, and appears to be picked up again.
if they start shooting everyone with a gun,, this war is going to go full retard soon
someone should tell these pigs we have a right to carry , and the right to use it if we think our lives are in danger ,, yes.. even if the danger comes in the form of a cop
wakey wakey .. were on even footing as far as one on one .. screw the rule of law.. she did