http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/us/charlotte-police-videos-keith-scott.html 2016-09-24 23:18:48 Yielding to Pressure, Charlotte Will Release Videos of Keith Scott Shooting City government officials previously contended that disclosing the recordings so soon after the fatal encounter could undermine a criminal inquiry. === CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte authorities said Saturday that they would release dashboard and body camera recordings in the fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, whose death has prompted large and sometimes violent protests here. The decision is a reversal by the city government, whose leaders previously contended that disclosing the recordings so soon after the shooting could undermine a criminal inquiry by the State Bureau of Investigation. But by Saturday, under pressure from protesters, community leaders and even Hillary Clinton, the authorities relented. The city’s police chief, Kerr Putney, announced at an afternoon news conference that the footage, which state officials said the city had the power to distribute, will be released. Security was tight at the West Charlotte police station where the chief spoke. National Guard soldiers, their rifles at the ready, stood outside the building, while police officers manned vehicle checkpoints. The Police Department’s recordings are certain to fuel the public debate surrounding the On Friday, lawyers for the Scott family released a The department’s videos, Chief Putney has said, will offer no clarity on that crucial point. “The video does not give me absolute, definitive visual evidence that would confirm that a person is pointing a gun,” he said on Thursday. Chief Putney and Charlotte’s mayor, Jennifer Roberts, pledged transparency during the investigation of Mr. Scott’s death, but they proved reluctant to release the police recordings, especially on the timetable sought by the city’s critics. Chief Putney worried publicly that disclosing just some of the evidence that investigators have collected would put peace in Charlotte at risk. “If I were to put it out indiscriminately, and it doesn’t give you good context, it can inflame the situation and make it even worse,” he said on Friday morning. “It will exacerbate the backlash. It will increase the distrust, so that is where discernment, judgment and reasonableness have to come in.” But Ms. Roberts maintained that the video “should be released,” and in a statement after Ms. Scott’s footage became public, she urged the State Bureau of Investigation “to use every resource at its disposal to get this done and release the information to the public as quickly as possible.” In an interview on Friday, lawyers for Mr. Scott’s family, Justin Bamberg and Eduardo Curry, described the two videos — one from a dashboard camera and the other from a body camera — that the police allowed the lawyers and family members to view. The body-camera video, Mr. Bamberg said, provided few significant details of the shooting. But he said the dashboard video showed two officers taking up positions behind a pickup truck and yelling commands at Mr. Scott, who was in his vehicle. The dashboard video, the lawyers said, appeared to show that the front window on the driver’s side was rolled up. Mr. Bamberg said the video then showed Mr. Scott stepping out of the vehicle, his hands down, with his right hand empty and “some type of object” in his left hand. “It’s impossible to make out what it is,” the lawyer said, noting that Mr. Scott was right-handed. “He doesn’t make any dramatic movements,” Mr. Bamberg said. He also said Mr. Scott seemed “confused.” In the video, Mr. Scott took a couple of steps forward “in a nonaggressive manner,” the lawyer said, and then a step back. Gunshots followed. The dispute about the footage came less than two weeks before North Carolina planned to restrict access to police recordings. A state law, long scheduled to take effect Oct. 1, will keep police recordings from being deemed public records. A court order will be required to release any footage, and judges will be allowed to consider whether “release is necessary to advance a compelling public interest,” as well as whether publication “would create a serious threat to the fair, impartial and orderly administration of justice.”