Charlotte Police Release Video & Photo Evidence From Keith Scott Shooting

The Charlotte Police Department has released a pair of videos of the fatal shooting of Keith Scott by a police officer.

Keith Scott Shooting Video

Scott was shot and killed on Sept. 20. According to police, they were at an apartment complex parking lot when Scott pulled in with his vehicle. They claim that they saw that he was in possession of a marijuana cigarette and a gun. When Scott was approached by police and eventually got out of his vehicle, cops say he was armed. Scott’s family, including his wife who was at the scene, insist that he wasn’t armed.

In the aftermath of the shooting, protests and demonstrations broke out throughout Charlotte. “No tapes; no peace,” was a popular chant, as Charlotte police stalled when it came to releasing the footage of the shooting. After Scott’s widow Rakeiyia Scott released her own video of the incident, the calls for the police department to release dash-cam and body camera footage swelled.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney announced that a couple of videos would be released over the weekend, but warned that they did not provide a full picture of events. The videos show Scott backing away from his car, but do not settle the debate over whether or not he was actually holding a firearm.

“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,” Putney said. “But what we do see is compelling evidence that, when you put all the pieces together, supports that.”

Unfortunately for those pushing for more transparency from law enforcement, a North Carolina law will go into effect on Oct. 1 that will make it more difficult for the public to see such videos. The law essentially declares that dash-cam and body camera videos are not matters of public record, and that only a judge could force their release.

“One viewpoint of a video doesn’t often always tell the whole story,” North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory argued to CNN. “The angles can make a difference, and [you’re] not hearing [the sound] often in the video, so that [adds to] the complexity. The video is one piece of evidence. We have to be careful.”

It’s uncertain whether or not the Charlotte PD plans to release any more videos of Scott’s shooting death.