Charlotte police refused under mounting pressure Thursday to release video that could resolve wildly different accounts of the shooting of a black man, as the National Guard arrived to try to head off a third night of violence in this city on edge.
The family of 43-year Keith Lamont Scott demanded police release the video after showing them the footage at their request. The family’s lawyer said he couldn’t tell whether Scott was holding a gun.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Chief Kerr Putney said that releasing police dashcam and body camera footage of Scott’s killing could undermine the investigation. He told reporters the video will be made public when he believes there is a “compelling reason” to do so.
“You shouldn’t expect it to be released,” Putney said. “I’m not going to jeopardize the investigation.”
Meanwhile, an undisclosed number of National Guardsmen assembled in Charlotte, sent in by Gov. Pat McCrory after a second straight night of racial unrest that seemed at odds with Charlotte’s image as a diverse, forward-looking banking capital of the New South.
Charlotte is just the latest U.S. city to be shaken by protests and recriminations over the death of a black man at the hands of police, a list that includes Baltimore, Milwaukee, Chicago, New York, and Ferguson, Mo. In Tulsa, Okla., on Thursday, prosecutors charged a white officer with manslaughter for killing an unarmed black man on a city street last week.
In Charlotte, scores of rioters Wednesday night attacked reporters and others, set fires and smashed windows of hotels, office buildings and restaurants in the city’s bustling downtown section. The NASCAR Hall of Fame was among the places damaged.
Forty-four people were arrested, and one protester who was shot died at the hospital Thursday; city officials said police did not shoot the man and no arrests have been made in 26-year-old Justin Carr’s death.
On Thursday, in a measure of how tense things had become, three of Charlotte’s major employers – Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Duke Energy – told thousands of employees not to venture into the city.
Hours before nightfall Thursday, the police chief said he saw no need for a curfew. In addition to the National Guardsmen, N.C., state troopers and U.S. Justice Department conflict-resolution experts were sent to keep the peace.
Demonstrators have been demanding answers in Scott’s killing, with some carrying signs that read “Release the tapes.”
Police have said that Scott was shot to death Tuesday by a black officer after he disregarded loud, repeated warnings to drop his gun. Neighbors, though, have said he was holding only a book. The police chief said a gun was found next to the dead man, and there was no book.