ACLU: Release police dashcam video in fatal Charlotte shooting before new law takes effect
The American Civil Liberties Union is calling for release of dashcam video showing the fatal shooting by police of a black man in Charlotte, North Carolina, that led to two nights of unrest.
A spokesman for Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts said she planned on Thursday to watch the video showing the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, but she would not make it public, the New York Times reports. Kerr Putney, chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, says he won’t release the video until the police department completes its investigation, according the Charlotte Observer.
“The law is pretty specific, especially around evidence for an investigation. I cannot release that,” Putney said at a press conference Wednesday.
Protests in Charlotte Wednesday night “spiraled into chaos and violence,” the New York Times reports. One man was seriously wounded in what police said was a “civilian on civilian” shooting.
The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina noted there are conflicting accounts of the shooting and said police should release video of events leading up to the shooting as well as the shooting itself, CBS News reports. The officer who shot Scott was not wearing a body cam, but other officers were wearing the devices, Putney has said.
A new law in North Carolina that will take effect Oct. 1 bars police from releasing video without a court order. “Charlotte should set an example for North Carolina by releasing footage of the shooting promptly before the obstacles imposed by the new state law take effect,” the statement read. The Charlotte Observer has also called for release of the video.
North Carolina is one of about a half-dozen states that exclude police video from open records laws, according to CBS.
Police say Scott was holding a gun when a police officer shot him. The officer and Scott are both black.
