CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The unrest and violence of Wednesday night began as a demonstration in response to the shooting of Keith Scott at the hands of a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer.
In a news conference late Thursday morning, CMPD Chief Kerr Putney said the video of that shooting will not be made public.
CMPD has said from the beginning that they want the investigation to be open and transparent, but again Thursday morning it appears that there are limits to that transparency.
Putney said they have a request from the family of Keith Scott to see video in the moments leading up to the shooting and that they will accommodate that request.
On Thursday evening, the family of Keith Lamont Scott watched police video from the night police said he was shot to death by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer.
Attorneys for his family described what was and was not shown.
Scott's wife and family asked for privacy and their attorneys said the family watched two videos captured by police dash and body cameras that showed the shooting.
The attorneys explained in detail to Channel 9 what they could see.
The Scott family said that when police told Scott to exit his vehicle he did so in “very calm, non-aggressive manner.”
The attorneys said police gave Scott several commands but that he did not aggressively approach them or raise his hands at police.
They also said it was impossible to see in that video what, if anything, Scott was holding in his hands.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said that the video does not answer the question everyone wants to know, if Scott was holding a gun.
“What I can tell is what I saw, the video does not give me absolute definitive visual evidence that would confirm that a person is pointing a gun. I did not see that in the videos that I’ve reviewed,” he said.
The attorneys say the video did show that Scott's hands were by his side, and he was slowly walking backwards as he was killed.
They say it was very difficult for the family to watch the video but, said "as a matter of the greater good and transparency, the Scott family asks that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department publicly immediately release both of the videos they watched today."
The family did urge in a statement Thursday night, for those who wish to protest please do so peacefully.
Cox Media Group
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