Advertisement

Charlotte Police Chief releases footage of Keith Scott’s fatal shooting

“There is no definitive visual evidence that he had a gun in his hand…”

Ryan Koronowski Twitter
Police Chief Kerr Putney CREDIT: CNN
Police Chief Kerr Putney CREDIT: CNN

In a late afternoon press conference, Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Department Chief Kerr Putney announced the imminent release of two streams of police camera footage and that his officers saw Keith Lamont Scott first in possession of marijuana, and then a handgun, before he was shot by police.

“After having a conversation with the State Bureau of Investigations,” Putney began, “I have decided that we are in a stage where I can release additional information without adversely impacting their investigation. So now it it appropriate to release this information.”

Putney initially said his department would not release footage of the incident, before reversing course on Friday.

Charlotte erupts after police kill black man who was waiting for his kid to get home

One year after Jonathan Ferrell’s killer got off, the same police department killed another black man.

When asked if the video shows Scott holding a firearm or pointing it at police, Putney demurred.

“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. But what we do see is compelling evidence that, when you put all the pieces together, support that [description of events].”

Advertisement

Putney said reporters could expect a link to the footage in about a “half hour.” The footage was released roughly two hours later.

The dash cam footage shows Scott in his car, slowly opening the door as police yell at him, exiting the vehicle slowly, turning around with his hands still, and walking backwards — then he is shot and falls to the ground. At no time does it show his arm pointing at anything other than the ground, and though it is hard to see, it does not clearly show anything in his hands. The following video contains graphic content.

The body cam video is a lot shakier and more difficult to follow. An officer rushes to the opposite side of the car, appears to try to break the glass, while another officer points his gun at Scott from the passenger side, and then runs around to Scott’s side of the vehicle when the shooting happens.

Neighbors and family said Scott was reading a book in his car. Scott’s widow, Reykia Scott, was filming the incident by the truck and can be heard telling the officers that he had a traumatic brain injury and had just taken his meds.

Advertisement

“He didn’t have no gun. He wasn’t messing with nobody,” a woman identified as Scott’s sister told local news reporters Tuesday. “All he did, them jump-out boys, them undercover detectives, they jumped out their truck, they said ‘hands up, he got a gun,’ pow-pow-pow-pow. That’s it.”

Police were looking for a wanted suspect in the area prior to the incident. Putney denied this was a case of mistaken identity. “There was a compelling reason for them to make this encounter, it was beyond a possession of a gun, it was because of criminal activity that heightened their level of awareness, and they had to change their focus from the priority of taking a wanted suspect off the street to encountering Mr. Scott.”

Putney had previously said that Scott exited his vehicle holding a gun that police later recovered at the scene. But the police videos, shown to the family on Thursday night, show that he had been commanded to get out of the truck by the officers, according to attorney Justin Bamberg.

The Tulsa Police Department released videos of the fatal shooting of another black man — Terrence Crutcher — on Monday, and Betty Shelby, the officer involved, was charged with first-degree manslaughter on Thursday afternoon.

Advertisement

“Officers are absolutely not being charged by me at this point, but again there is another investigation ongoing,” Putney said of the Charlotte incident.

“Officers are absolutely not being charged by me at this point, but again there is another investigation ongoing”

Asked if Scott clearly had a gun, which is the main dispute, he said, “Yes. Based on the footage of the totality of what we see, he absolutely was in possession of a handgun.” Putney said Scott’s possession of a handgun was “not lawful, given the circumstances” meaning that “there’s a crime that he had committed that caused the encounter, and then the gun exacerbated that situation.”

This referred to the new revelation of the accusation of drug possession.

“The reason for the encounter is because laws were broken and possession of a weapon with that law violation caused the officers to escalate their attention onto him,” he said. The officers were looking for a wanted suspect and saw Scott with marijuana, “that they were not focused on,” Putney said, “until a gun was produced.”

CREDIT: WCBD
CREDIT: WCBD

“When you are in possession of marijuana and then you have a gun,” Putney said, “that is a public safety issue that our officers were going to address.” He said officers were not concentrated on Scott until they saw him both with marijuana and a gun, a situation that caused them to prioritize Scott over their search for a suspect.

The officers did not see Scott smoking marijuana, Putney said. The officers, he said, looked in the car, saw the marijuana, and then saw the gun.

Asked why the officers shot to kill, Putney said: “We don’t. We shoot to stop the aggressive act that justifies our use of lethal force. Our shooting is to stop the aggressive act, or the imminent threat of such act. That’s why we shoot.”

The video does not show an aggressive act.

“They were reacting to what they saw, and they have a duty to do so, so in the encounter they perceive an imminent lethal threat via handgun and they react to that.”

Only two streams of footage would be released, he said, although there are other footage streams from other officers that Putney said were not relevant to the case: officers traveling towards the scene, for instance.

After saying that not all officers can wear body cameras all the time due to the nature of some officers’ work, Putney said “unfortunately, I have to do everything I can to protect our people, even if it doesn’t feel good.”

To understand Charlotte’s rage, you have to understand its roads

The long, winding history that led up to this week’s unrest.

Asked if he was concerned about the public reaction to the video after it is released, he said, “I stand behind the truth. People can interpret anything they want based on one piece of evidence, and I can tell you I suspect they will based on the video footage. But what I say is, you have to put all pieces together.”

He said after reviewing the video and interviewing all the officers, “the consistent themes were the facts.”

Asked if those facts showed the officers following protocol, he said “if laws were violated, I would be taking different action. I won’t get into policy because that’s another investigation that’s internal.”

He said he’s been hearing from the community that they wanted to see the video, and that impacted this decision, and he decided to release it when he found out it would not impact the investigation.

He said he “can’t control” and is “not concerned about” other videos, referring to Keith Scott’s widow’s video that came out on Friday.

“The footage itself will not create, in anyone’s mind, absolute certainty as to what this case represents and what the outcome should be,” he said. “The footage only supports all the other information” to create a full picture.

The Charlotte Police Twitter feed posted this tweet about transparency and release of information, but subsequently deleted it (screenshot below).

Gov. Pat McCrory (R-NC) said on Facebook he agreed with Putney’s decision to release the footage.

McCrory declared a state of emergency and deployed the National Guard in response to protests over Scott’s killing which have ranged from peaceful vigils to more violent clashes over four nights in Charlotte.

Protesters’ demands include an immediate release of body camera footage connected with the killing.

Putney described the incident as both an “officer-involved shooting and a tragic loss of life,” and acknowledged “some distrust” between the police and the community.