Demonstrators carried signs, chanted and marched in a peaceful protest hours after the family of a black man shot by police released video showing the events leading up to his death.
Friday’s march through Charlotte’s business district was the fourth night of demonstrations over the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott earlier in the week.
After darkness fell, dozens of people took to the streets to urge police to release dashboard and body camera video that could show more clearly what happened. Police have said Scott was armed, but witnesses say he held only a book.
Earlier in the day, footage recorded by Keith Lamont Scott’s wife and released by his family shows his wife repeatedly telling officers he is not armed and pleading with them not to shoot her husband as they shout at him to drop a gun. The two-minute video, released by the family, does not show the shooting, though gunshots can be heard. In the video Scott’s wife, Rakeyia Scott, tells officers that he has a TBI, or traumatic brain injury. At one point, she tells her husband to get out of the car so police don’t break the windows. She also tells him, “don’t do it,” but it’s not clear what she means. As the encounter escalates, she repeatedly urges police, “You better not shoot him.”
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said on Friday that there is footage from at least one police body camera and one dashboard camera that shows the shooting. The family of Scott (43) was shown that footage Thursday and demanded that police release it to the public.
Mr. Putney said on Friday that releasing the footage of Scott’s death could inflame the situation.