The Killing of Keith Lamont Scott

Subtitled; How Charlotte–Mecklenburg Chief of Police Kerr Putney Has Messed Up.

The citizens of Charlotte, North Carolina, have no trust in Putney’s inconsistent representations.

There are times when it’s best to be quiet rather than exert one-side of a story to the public. Putney has shown that he accepts whatever his officers say and therefore, cannot be any part of an impartial investigation.

Keith Lamont Scott

Keith Lamont Scott was killed on Tuesday, September 20, 2016 in Charlotte, North Carolina.  There are so many conflicting points of view and reports that they make the head spin.

On September 22, 2016, Keith’s family was shown dash cam video.  The attorney for the family stated that the video shows that Keith was walking with both arms at his side, and no gun present.   Police Chief Kerr Putney refused to release the dash cam video to the public.

Keith’s wife took cell phone video and released it to the public yesterday.  News sources and social media arm-chair sleuths gave their opinions on what the video shows.  There was lots of jumping to conclusions because the cell phone video shows an officer standing at the passenger side window of a truck.  Some analyzing that video said that the officer would have been able to see that Keith was holding a gun by standing at that window of Keith’s truck.

Now, we learn that the officer was not standing at Keith’s truck, but he was standing at a truck parked on the opposite side of the street from where Keith was parked.

On the cell phone video, we hear an officer shouting for Keith to put down the gun.  On the dash cam video, Keith comes out of his truck and walks backwards with both arms at his side.  His hands are holding nothing.

It has not yet been explained how a person sitting in a car is to drop a gun when putting it out of the window can lead to the same assumption that it is being pointed with intent to fire.

Then, there are photos that show no gun on the ground after Keith was shot, then what appears to be a gun on the ground after Keith was shot.  There are arguments that the gun was planted.

Now, we learn that Keith might have had an ankle-holster.  It is possible that after Keith was shot and handcuffed, that he was searched and the gun removed by officers from the ankle-holster and tossed by the curb by the officers.  That would also explain Putney’s report that Keith’s DNA was on the gun.  Neither the released dash cam nor body cam videos show the officers removing a gun from Keith’s body, ankle or otherwise.

The body cam video shows an officer who has clear view of Keith getting out of his truck, and that officer apparently did not perceive a threat to fire his weapon.  Keith was walking backwards with both arms at his sides, and made no motions with either arm.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police chief Kerr Putney (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Chief Kerr Putney first came out and presented the officers’ side as fact.  He said that Keith refused to drop a gun.  Then, Putney said that the dash cam video does not show Keith holding a gun.

First reports were that a plain clothes officer was serving a warrant in that area, and mistook Keith for the person named in the warrant.  Today in releasing the video, Putney said that the officers were distracted when seeing Keith with marijuana and a gun.  Putney also said that Keith was wanted and could not legally carry a weapon.  Later in the press conference, Putney said that he was not saying that Keith was legally prohibited from having a weapon.

Also today, Putney fielded a question that brought up the issue of constitutional search and seizure.   His response raises questions about police discretion.

This is the marijuana joint that Putney says his officers saw, but did not see Keith smoking.

After Putney stated that marijuana was found in the car, he was asked if the officers observed Keith smoking marijuana and if that was the only crime that Keith was committing. Putney responded that the first thing the officers saw was the marijuana.  Putney also said that he did not say Keith was smoking marijuana, but was in possession of marijuana.  He felt that the officers used discretion when deciding that marijuana and a gun was a public safety issue that took priority over serving the warrant for a person other than Keith.

Misinformation or Deliberate Lies?

On September 21, 2016, Fox News reported on an “exclusive interview” with Chief Putney.  They wrote:

“Scott was shot and killed after an officer observed him exiting his car with a handgun. The officer approached Scott’s vehicle and told him to drop the weapon.

After exiting the vehicle once more, Scott was still brandishing the handgun.

At that time, Scott continued to disobey “clear, verbal commands” and the officer mortally wounded Scott. Both men involved were black.”

Their report makes it sound as if Keith exited his vehicle twice.  However, the released dash cam, nor the body cam video shows that.   Putney needs to release that video, (if it exists), to support his interview statements with Megyn Kelly. You can watch the videos compiled of the dash cam and body cam and decide if you see any Black officers in position to fire his weapon on Keith.

The New York Times reports;

“William Barber II, the president of the North Carolina chapter of the N.A.A.C.P., said in an interview on Saturday that the release of the two videos was not sufficient. He called for the full release of all police videos of the incident, and demanded a federal investigation.

He noted that neither he, nor anyone else in the public, was in possession of all of the facts in the case. But he also said that neither the possession of marijuana nor the possession of a gun should warrant “a death sentence.”

Some sources are already comparing a possible trial with that of the trial of Randall Kerrick, charged with manslaughter for killing Jonathan Ferrell.  The Guardian interviewed a juror in the trial of Charlotte police officer Randall Kerrick.  The jury dead-locked.  The interview presents that some members of the jury asked what Jonathan did to justify Kerrick using deadly force when other officers on the scene did not think deadly force was necessary.  That interview raises questions of why Putney will not say how many officers fired their weapons, killing Keith Scott.

Press Conference

 

 

Dash Cam and Body Cam Video