Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Video Shows Deadly Charlotte Encounter

(CN) - The family of Keith Lamont Scott, the black man shot dead earlier this week by a Charlotte police officer, has released a cellphone video of the incident that includes the sounds of his wife pleading with police not to shoot him, as they shout commands to "drop the gun."

The two-minute, 46-second video was first broadcast by MSNBC. The family said it decided to release their video after viewing dashboard and body cam videos that the Charlotte police have refused to release publicly.

The video does not show Scott until after he was shot and laying on the ground, so it does not resolve the question of whether he was holding a gun as the police contend or a book, as his family says.

According to the dead man's family, Rakeyia Scott had gone inside to recharge her cellphone, while her husband sat in their car, waiting for their son's school bus.

The scene is brightly illuminated by sunlight, and the officers and Scott are initially obscured by a cluster of vehicles.

Rakeyia Scott appears to be running with her cellphone, which is often pointed to the ground as she approaches.

All the while, she shouts, "Don't shoot him. He has no weapons."

In the distance, the officers can be heard shouting for Scott to "drop the gun. Drop the gun"

"He doesn't have a gun," Rakeyia Scott shouts. "He has a TBI [traumatic brain injury]. He is not going to do anything to you guys. He just took his medicine."

A moment later, there are four shots in rapid succession. After the gunshots, Scott can be seen lying on the ground.

At this point, a hysterical Rakeyia Scott shouts "Did you shoot him?"

"He better not be [expletive] dead!" she continues. "He better be alive."

Rakeyia Scott then tells the officers she is recording them, and asks whether they have called an ambulance for her husband.

The State Bureau of Investigation officially took over the investigation into the shooting on Thursday, and city officials continue to maintain that until that inquiry is finished, it is unlikely that police bodycam and dashcam videos of the incident will be released.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said Friday that there is footage from at least one police body camera and one dashboard camera.

Putney said he has seen the video and it does not contain "absolute, definitive evidence that would confirm that a person was pointing a gun."

He added, however, that the video, in the context of other evidence, would support the officers' account of what happened.

Justin Bamberg, an attorney for Scott's family, watched the video with the slain man's relatives. He told the Associated Press that the video shows Scott calmly getting out of his vehicle.

"While police did give him several commands, he did not aggressively approach them or raise his hands at members of law enforcement at any time. It is impossible to discern from the videos what, if anything, Mr. Scott is holding in his hands," Bamberg said in a statement.

Scott was shot as he walked slowly backward with his hands by his side, Bamberg said.

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...