CHARLOTTE — More details are emerging about the man shot and killed by a Charlotte police officer last week. Keith Scott has served time in prison in Texas for assault with a deadly weapon, and just last year, his wife received and later dropped a restraining order against him. Court documents show Keith Scott worked as a security guard at Eastridge Mall in Gastonia, providing for his wife and seven children. He was a family man, his friends say. “You see him, you see his wife. You see him, you see his kids. That’s what I mean about a family man,” said friend Toccaro Harris, who lived across the street from Scott when he lived in Gastonia. Records show briefly last year, Scott’s wife took out a restraining order against him. “He hit my 8 year old in the head a total of three times with is [sic] fist….He kicked me and threaten [sic] to kill us last night with his gun. He said he is a ‘killer’ and we should know that,” she wrote on the form last October.
The complaint asked, “Is there any reason that a law enforcement officer should consider the defendant a potential threat? (i.e., carries concealed weapons while drinking alcohol, has threatened officer, etc.)” She marked “yes” and wrote, “He carries a 9mm black.” The protective order was filed Oct. 5, 2015, and Rakeyia Scott voluntarily dismissed it on Oct. 16, 2015. “It doesn’t mean that he was bad. It doesn’t mean that he had a right to get his life [taken],” Harris said. Scott also had convictions in Gaston County for DWI and assault with a deadly weapon. In Texas, he served more than eight years for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and evading arrest. His attorney for that case told Time Warner Cable News he shot a man he believed was threatening his family. Scott also has convictions in South Carolina for traffic offenses. At the time of last week’s shooting, his friends and family say he was recovering from a traumatic brain injury and other injuries suffered during an accident.
Keith Scott was carrying a stolen gun when he was shot and killed during a confrontation with police in Charlotte, North Carolina, authorities have said. The gun was reported stolen after a breaking and entering, according to the police. A breaking and entering suspect told agents at the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives that he had sold the gun to Scott, ABC 11 reported Monday. He is now in custody. Scott’s wife Rakeyia, who filmed her husband’s killing on Tuesday, had filed for a restraining order against him and had told authorities he carried a gun, hit her as well as one of her children and had threatened to kill her, records have shown.
Rakeyia detailed her husband’s behavior in the filing in October last year. She said he had hit her and one of her children. ‘He hit my 8 year old in the head a total of three times with is [sic] fist,’ she wrote on the form published by TWC News. ‘He kicked me and threaten [sic] to kill us last night with his gun. He said he is a “killer” and we should know that.’ The form asked whether there was any reason that law enforcement should consider the defendant a potential threat. Possible reasons included carrying concealed weapons while drinking alcohol and having threatened an officer.
Rakeyia ticked ‘yes’ and specified: ‘He carries a 9mm black.’
A public records search shows that Scott was convicted in April 2004 of a misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon charge in Mecklenburg County. Other charges stemming from that date were dismissed: felony assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, and misdemeanors assault on a child under 12, assault on a female and communicating threats. In April 2015 in Gaston County Court, Scott was found guilty of driving while intoxicated. In 1992, Scott was charged in Charleston County, S.C., with several different crimes on different dates, including carrying a concealed weapon (not a gun), simple assault and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He pleaded guilty to all charges.
Scott also was charged with aggravated assault in 1992 and assault with intent to kill in 1995. Both charges were reduced, but the disposition of the cases is unclear. According to Bexar County, Texas, records, Scott was sentenced in March 2005 to 15 months in a state jail for evading arrest. In July of that year, records show, he was sentenced to seven years in prison on a conviction of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. A Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman said Scott completed his sentence and was released from prison in 2011.
Police in Charlotte, North Carolina, have released officer bodycam and dashcam footage of a controversial shooting of a black man on Tuesday. They also released pictures of a handgun and marijuana that police say Keith Lamont Scott possessed. Calls for the footage to be released had increased in the four days since Mr Scott was shot. His wife released her own video from her phone on Friday. Mr Scott’s family says he was carrying a book and not a gun. Charlotte police chief Kerr Putney told reporters the victim was “absolutely in possession of a handgun”.
The dashcam footage released on Saturday shows Mr Scott getting out of his car and walking backwards with his hands down. It is unclear if there is anything in his hands. Four shots are heard and he falls to the ground. The bodycam footage shows Mr Scott outside his car with his hands down but does not show the moment of the shooting. The BBC’s Laura Bicker in Washington says it does not clear up the key question of whether Mr Scott had a gun, or if he pointed a gun at police.
Video footage released Saturday shows Keith Lamont Scott taking four steps slowly backward with his arms at his sides when he is hit in a burst of four gunshots from police, then crumples to the pavement. From neither vantage point – a police dashboard camera and a body camera worn by one of the officers on the scene – can it be determined whether Scott is holding a gun. But police can be heard repeatedly shouting “Drop the gun!” at the 43-year-old Scott, who died from his wounds Tuesday as his wife stood nearby. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney released the videos Saturday after a tumultuous week of protests and two nights of street violence spurred by the shooting.
In the dashboard video, a police SUV can be seen pulling into the parking lot where Scott’s white SUV is parked. An officer in a red shirt is visible pointing his weapon at Scott’s vehicle, whose tinted windows are up. In a deadly tableau lasting about three seconds, Scott, surrounded by officers at varying distances, then opens his door, steps out, turns and walks backward, hands at his side. Four shots are heard and he falls. In neither video is the resolution good enough to show whether Scott was holding a weapon. Nor does either show the officer firing at him. A body cam on another officer at the scene shows Scott emerging from the SUV, then lying in the parking lot seconds later. Police handcuff him while Scott’s wife can be heard yelling at police, “He better be alive!”
An attorney for the family of a man shot by Charlotte police says newly released footage from authorities doesn’t show a gun in the man’s hand. Justin Bamberg told reporters on Saturday night that the dashcam and body camera footage released on Saturday leaves more questions unanswered than it provides clarity. He also said that Keith Lamont Scott’s delay in getting out of his vehicle doesn’t justify his death. Protesters have been clamoring for the videos since the shooting of Scott by Charlotte police. Officers have said Scott had a gun, according to a police statement. Authorities on Saturday released photographs of a handgun and a holster they said was recovered from the scene. Ray Dotch identified himself as Scott’s brother-in-law. He objected to reporters’ questions about Scott’s background, saying he shouldn’t have to “humanize him in order for him to be treated fairly.” “What we know and what you should know about him is that he was an American citizen who deserved better,” he added.
Charlotte’s mayor says she fully supports the release of police shooting videos. Mayor Jennifer Roberts said in a statement released Saturday night that she backs up the decision made by Police Chief Kerr Putney on the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. Roberts has been saying for several days she thought the dashcam and body camera footage should be released. At a news conference on Friday, Roberts reiterated that stance but said that the only question was “timing.” Roberts also said she has asked the U.S. Department of Justice “to be available to address any potential civil rights concerns.”
Charlotte, North Carolina (CNN)Videos released Saturday by the Charlotte police department of the fatal encounter between Keith Scott and officers do little to answer some of the most significant questions about the shooting. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney has said as much since the Tuesday shooting that sparked protests and brought nationwide media attention once again to the use of deadly force by law enforcement. Authorities have said an African-American officer shot Scott, who was black, when he made a threatening move with a gun. Saturday, police released photos of a pistol and ankle holster recovered at the scene. Scott’s family has said he had no gun, that he was reading a book and was being non-aggressive when police were surrounding him.
Neither police dashcam nor body-camera footage shows Scott pointing a gun at police officers.
At one point in the body-camera video, there is a view of Scott from his right side and he has his arm by his body, but it is unclear if there is a gun. “You can’t clearly identify what, if anything, is in his hand,” attorney Justin Bamberg, who represents the Scott family, said at news conference Saturday evening. Putney had said, before the videos were released, that “there is no definitive visual evidence that he had a gun in his hand.” The chief has also said the videos are part of the evidence, the totality of which will show the shooting was justified. Bamberg says the videos don’t show anything that should have led to Scott losing his life.
Police in Charlotte, North Carolina, have released footage from police body cameras, showing the moment when Keith Lamont Scott was shot dead. The distressing footage shows his death, but does not show whether Scott is holding a gun. They also released images of a handgun they say he was carrying, as well as what is purported to be a marijuana joint they allege he was rolling in the car. Kerr Putney, chief of Charlotte police, said it was the alleged possession of the drugs which gave officers “probable cause” to intercept him, denying that it was a case of mistaken identity as previously reported.
Mr Putney said:”My priority throughout the process has been to obtain the facts. “Today, I have decided that we are at a stage where I can release additional information without adversely impacting the investigation. Doing it earlier would have had a negative impact on the integrity of the investigation.” Mr Putney said two video clips – one from the dashcam, one from the body cameras – are being released immediately, with more later when the prosecutor has made a definitive decision.
Police in North Carolina have released video footage of the fatal shooting of Keith Scott, the 43-year-old father of seven whose killing sparked days of protests in the North Carolina city and reignited rage over the use of lethal force against black men. A dashboard camera from a police car shows Scott, killed on Tuesday, exiting his car and backing away from it. Police shout to him to drop the gun, but it is not clear that he has anything in his hand. Then shots break out and Scott drops to the ground. A second body camera video from an officer does not show the moment of the shooting. It shows Scott outside his vehicle before he is shot, but it is not clear whether he has something in his hand. Then the officer moves and Scott is out of view until he is seen on the ground.
“I didn’t see him with a gun in his hand,” Cox said.
Prior to releasing the footage, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney told reporters on Saturday that evidence showed that Scott was in possession of a handgun during the confrontation. He also said that Scott was in possession of marijuana at the time. “The footage itself will not create in anyone’s mind absolute certainty as to what this case represents and what the outcome should be,” said Putney, who described the videos as supporting other evidence, rather than being standalone proof. Police said the videos were released for the sake of transparency, and initially live tweeted details about the footage. But suddenly, the tweets were deleted from the police department’s account – followed later by an announcement from the same account that “an employee, uncomfortable with decision to live tweet, deleted all of @cmpd’s tweets. That should not have happened. Retweeting them now.”
More than 100 people chanted and marched outside a National Football League (NFL) game in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sunday in protests over police killing a black man, a day after police released videos of the confrontation. Protesters have filled the city’s streets for nearly a week in response to the killing of Keith Scott, 43, who police said was armed when officers shot him on Tuesday, although Sunday’s gathering was smaller than those seen in earlier in the week. The video did not show clearly whether Scott had a gun at the time, and Charlotte, the state’s largest city and one of the U.S. Southeast’s most vibrant urban centers, remains the latest flashpoint in two years of tense protests over U.S. police killings of black men, many of them unarmed. Small groups of police in riot gear chatted with fans as they arrived for the NFL game between the Carolina Panthers and the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday afternoon, while a peaceful crowd of protesters swelled to more than 100 people.
“Black lives matter,” the demonstrators chanted. “We don’t need no riot gear. Why are you in riot gear?” As their numbers swelled, police officers on bicycles kept the protesters out of the path of arriving fans. Among them was Simon Gebrekristos, a 26-year-old Panthers fan who works at a gas station. He arrived at the stadium holding tickets he said had cost him $160, but decided against going inside after seeing the protesters. “I can go to the game any other time,” he said. Inside the stadium, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton signaled his support during the pre-game workout by wearing a T-shirt with a Martin Luther King Jr. quote: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice anywhere.”
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Reuters) – Charlotte police released body camera and dashboard videos on Saturday showing the fatal shooting of a black man that triggered protests in the North Carolina city, but the footage did not show whether the victim was holding a gun. A dashboard camera from a police car showed Keith Scott, killed on Tuesday, exiting his car and backing away from it. Police shout to him to drop the gun, but it is not clear that he has anything in his hand. Then shots break out and Scott drops to the ground. A second body camera video from an officer does not show the moment of shooting. It shows Scott outside his vehicle before he is shot, but it is not clear whether he has something in his hand. Then the officer moves and Scott is out of view until he is seen on the ground.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney announced the release of the video at an earlier briefing, following days of demonstrations at which protesters demanded that authorities allow the public to see clips of the Tuesday shooting. Putney said before releasing the footage that the videos themselves were “insufficient” to prove that Scott held a gun. But the totality of evidence did, he said. “There is no definitive visual evidence that he had a gun in his hand, you can see something in the hand, and that he pointed it at an officer. That I did not visually see in the video,” Putney said. “But what we do see is compelling evidence that, when you put all the pieces together, supports that.”
A suspicious device found near a New Jersey railway station exploded as a bomb squad was attempting to disarm it with a robot, officials say. It was one of up to five devices found in backpack inside a rubbish bin near the station in Elizabeth, according to the city’s mayor. No-one was hurt. The discovery came after three attacks at the weekend – bombs in New York and New Jersey, and stabbings in Minnesota. The explosion in New York’s Chelsea area injured 29 people. In Elizabeth, New Jersey, police detonated a device on Monday following concerns it was a live bomb. “That was not a controlled explosion,” said Mayor Christian Bollwage, adding that the blast happened as a robot examining a device cut a wire.
Met Police have confirmed they’re now investigation shock footage that showed an officer smashing the windscreen of a car in Camden. The clip has been shared thousands of times on social media and was shot on Friday evening at Weedington Road in NW5. In the footage, the policeman reportedly shouts at the driver to “get out of the car”, apparently having been told over radio that the driver is not qualified. Initially he uses his hands to try to break the driver’s window but when that proves unsuccessful, he then puls a baton out and uses it to smash the windscreen. Next he takes a knife out and cuts the windscreen away. During this the driver can be heard insisting: “I’ve got a licence and insurance.” Reports suggest that when the driver exited the car, one of the officers recognised him. In a statement on Saturday evening, the Met confirmed no-one had been arrested, saying: “The individual who uploaded the footage has been contacted by DPS officers.
At least 29 people have been injured in an explosion in the Chelsea district of New York City, officials say. The cause of the blast late on Saturday remains unclear. Mayor Bill de Blasio described it as “intentional” but said that there were no known terror links. He also said there was no evidence of a link to a pipe bomb explosion in neighbouring New Jersey hours earlier. None of the injuries is life-threatening but one is serious, the fire comissioner said. The explosion in New York occurred around 21:00 (01:00 GMT on Sunday). Witnesses said people ran in all directions following the “incredibly loud” blast.
(ANSA) – Brussels, September 14 – The European Council on Wednesday gave final approval to regulations for the new EU agency of coast guards and border guards. The written OK paves the way for the agency to start up in mid-October, Council sources said. On June 22 the Council said it, the European Parliament and the European Commission had reached a deal on regulations (Law) governing a new agency of EU border guards and coast guards. The agreement was in line with a request by the EU leaders’ summit to wind up talks before the end of the Dutch duty presidency at the end of June. New border guards are part of concerted action to address the migrant and refugee emergency. photo: European Council President Donald Tusk
