Charlotte protests: Police chief says Keith Lamont Scott’s family will view video of shooting
Officers say black man was shot dead after wielding a gun while family insists he was unarmed
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Your support makes all the difference.Charlotte’s chief of police says he will show video of an officer shooting a black man to his family but the footage will not immediately released to the public.
Kerr Putney said during a news conference on Thursday, after a second night of violent protests, that the video did not definitively show 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott pointing a gun at anyone.
“I'm not going to release the video right now,” he said. “The family made a request to see it and we're looking to accommodate that request.”
The video could be crucial to bridging the gap between police accounts - in which Scott repeatedly refused to drop his weapon - and family accounts, which say he was unarmed.
Mr Putney said no curfew would be imposed on Thursday night but that security would be heightened. Nine civilians were wounded and 44 arrested, he added.
Three major companies told staff to stay at home amid fears that nightfall would bring more violent protests.
The governor of North Carolina, Pat McCrory, declared a state of emergency on Wednesday night and ordered the National Guard to be deployed.
The unrest follows a string of police shootings that have reheated simmering tensions and raised fresh questions about the way officers treat black men and youths. Last week
They include 13-year-old Tyree King, who was carrying a BB stun gun in Columbus, Ohio, an unarmed 43-year-old called Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was holding his hands above his head and then, in North Carolina, Keith Scott, a father to seven children who his family say was sitting in his car, reading a book.
Police said the plainsclothes officer who shot 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott, identified as Brently Vinson, has been placed on leave, standard procedure in such cases. Three uniformed officers at the shooting scene had body cameras; Vinson did not, police said.
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