Clinton postpones visit to Charlotte after mayor’s request

Body- and dash-cam videos of the fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott have been released Saturday by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department after days of mounting pressure to disclose them to the public, Chief Kerr Putney said.

Keith Scott’s family has released a video of police officers fatally shooting him that was recorded by his wife, who was talking to police from a distance.

Both protestors and the Scott family have called for the police to release footage from the body cameras of the officers who were present at the scene of Scott’s death.

Police said Scott had a gun as he exited his vehicle, and that Officer Brentley Vinson shot him after Scott did not comply with officers’ commands to drop the weapon. The videos could help shed light on whether Scott was brandishing a weapon before he was killed-although Putney said that the footage does not show conclusively that he was pointing a gun at officers. Don’t shoot him. He didn’t do anything…he doesn’t have a gun…he has a TBI.

RAKEYIA SCOTT: He just took his medicine.

But it does provide an insight into the chaotic moments before her husband was killed, as he sat in his auto waiting for his daughter to get off a school bus close to their home, ten miles east of Charlotte.

After viewing police video on Thursday, the family concluded it was “impossible to discern” what, if anything, Scott was carrying, an attorney representing the family said. Police have said he was armed, but witnesses say he held only a book.

After darkness fell, dozens of people took to the streets to urge police to release dashboard and body camera video which could show what happened more clearly. That could decrease the likelihood that the police bodycam and dashcam videos of the shooting will be released to the public. She also tells him, “don’t do it”, but it is not clear exactly what she means.

He described the police videos as supporting other evidence, rather than being standalone proof.

Earlier Saturday, the president of the North Carolina NAACP said federal authorities had opened a probe into the shooting, but the U.S. Justice Department said later that it continues to monitor the local investigation into the shooting. Gunshots can be heard but not seen in her video.

The family of Scott, 43, was shown the footage Thursday and demanded that police release it to the public.

Police, so far, have refused to release the video, saying that doing so at this time could compromise the investigation. On Saturday, he said that after speaking with state investigators he concluded the video could now be released without “adversely impacting” the investigation.

“It is understood discussions are actively underway between local officials regarding the release of that video”.

Demonstrations on Tuesday and Wednesday turned violent and destructive, with one person killed on Wednesday night. Watkins said that Mayor Roberts’ concerns lie with having sufficient resources in the city for an official visit from either candidate.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said Friday that the bureau has been looking for several days into the deadly encounter between Scott and police.