Protests erupt after man killed in officer-involved shooting in Charlotte

[Judi Lynn]

Source: CBS News

Protests erupt after man killed in officer-involved shooting in Charlotte
CBS News/ September 20, 2016, 8:34 PM


Last Updated Sep 20, 2016 11:24 PM EDT


CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Police say a person was killed in northeast Charlotte on Tuesday in an officer-involved shooting, CBS affiliate WBTV reported.

Following the shooting, a large crowd has gathered near the scene in protest.

The incident happened around 4 p.m. at an apartment complex. Officers said they were searching for a person with an outstanding warrant when they saw a person get out of a vehicle with a firearm. The man has since been identified as 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott.

When the person got back into the vehicle, the officers approached. The report states that the person then got back out of the vehicle “armed with a firearm and posed an imminent deadly threat to the officers who subsequently fired their weapon striking the subject.”

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/person-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting-in-charlotte-north-carolina/

[Judi Lynn]

1. UPDATE: Keith Lamont Scott Identified as Disabled Black Man Shot Dead by N.C. Police While Reading i

UPDATE: Keith Lamont Scott Identified as Disabled Black Man Shot Dead by N.C. Police While Reading in Car


By: Kirsten West Savali
Posted: September 20, 2016

UPDATE: 9/20/16, 9:32 p.m. ET — The police shooting victim in Charlotte, North Carolina has been identified by friends and family as Keith Lamont Scott, 43. The officer who shot Scott has been identified as Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Brentley Vinson.

. . .

The victim’s daughter, identified on Facebook as Lyric YourAdorable Scott, found out that her father was dead via the news while recording from the scene of the shooting. The victim’s brother said he was holding a book, not a gun, and was just waiting on his son to be dropped off after school.

http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/09/report-disabled-black-man-shot-dead-by-police-while-reading-in-the-car/

[Bonx]

16. Charlotte police shooting: Scott had gun, not book, chief says

"Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said Scott exited his car with a gun, not a book. He said officers couldn't find a book at the scene.

"It's time for the voiceless majority to stand up and be heard," the police chief, who is also black, said Wednesday.

"It's time to change the narrative because I can tell you from the facts that the story's a little bit different as to how it's been portrayed so far, especially through social media."

Putney said both evidence and witnesses support the officers' claim that Scott was armed.

Officers repeatedly told Scott to drop his gun, Putney said, but he didn't. Officer Brentley Vinson, who is also black, then shot him."

[Bradical79]

2. Damn

I don't see any mention of if footage from a body cam or other source may exist. Do Charlotte's police have body cams or cameras on their patrol cars?

[RedRocco]

5. if it exists you need a court order to see it

thanks to a law NC passed back in July
https://www.rt.com/usa/350846-north-carolina-bodycam-footage/

[uppityperson]

3. Reading what family, witnesses say, without a cam, this seems another murder by cop.

I would think legitimate cops would want cams and have them on when they interact at all.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Police In North Carolina Fatally Shoot Man Witnesses Say Was Disabled, Unarmed

Police In North Carolina Fatally Shoot Man Witnesses Say Was Disabled, Unarmed

Protests erupted after the sixth killing of a civilian by Charlotte-Mecklenburg police in the past year.

 09/20/2016 09:07 pm ET | Updated 15 minutes ago
Police in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Tuesday fatally shot a black man they said was armed as they searched for someone else, sparking protests that injured several officers. Witnesses said the man who was killed, Keith Lamont Scott, was unarmed and had a disability.

The shooting ― the sixth Charlotte-Mecklenburg police killing of a civilian in the last year ― happened just before 4 p.m. at an apartment complex roughly a mile from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers were searching at the complex for someone else who was wanted on an outstanding warrant, police said in a statement.

During the search, officers said they saw a man exit a vehicle with a firearm, then get back inside. When police approached, the man got out of the vehicle again and “posed an imminent deadly threat to the officers who subsequently fired their weapon striking the subject,” according to the police statement.

. . .

The killing unleashed a wave of anger, with more than 100 people converging at the shooting scene chanting anthems decrying police violence. Several officers were injured, and police blamed “agitators” who joined the protesters for destroying marked patrol cruisers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/charlotte-police-shooting_us_57e1c953e4b0e80b1b9efd69

[jtuck004]

10. The biggest agitator was the cop who murdered an unarmed black man. n/t

[nitpicker]

6. BBC: 12 officers injured

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37427164

Charlotte protests: Police injured after black man shot

2 hours ago

From the section US & Canada

Twelve police officers have been injured during protests sparked by the police shooting of a black man in Charlotte, North Carolina. Demonstrators destroyed marked police cars around the block of flats where the shooting took place, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department tweeted. One officer was hit in the face with a rock, it said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Keith Lamont Scott, 43, was shot by a black officer and died in hospital. Police say he was carrying a gun and posed "imminent deadly threat", but relatives told local media he was not holding a weapon but a book.

In Charlotte, officers had been looking for a different suspect at a block of flats when Mr Scott was killed, a police spokesman said.
(snip)

A woman claiming to be Mr Scott's daughter has contested the police department's account in a Facebook video, the Charlotte Observer reports. She says Mr Scott was unarmed and reading while he was waiting for his son's school bus and was tasered before being shot four times. She also said he was disabled. Police have not responded to the claims but say they recovered a gun at the scene.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Thank you. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

7. Protesters clash with police after Charlotte cops kill disabled black man holding a book (PHOTOS)

Protesters clash with police after Charlotte cops kill disabled black man holding a book (PHOTOS)

Reuters
21 Sep 2016 at 06:19 ET

Protesters blocked a highway and clashed with police in Charlotte, North Carolina, early on Wednesday morning after officers fatally shot a black man they said had a gun when they approached him in a parking lot.

About a dozen officers and several protesters suffered non-life threatening injuries during an hours-long demonstration near where Keith Lamont Scott, 43, was shot by a policeman on Tuesday afternoon, police and local media said on social media.

Early Wednesday morning, protesters blocked Interstate 85, where they stole boxes from trucks and started fires before police used flash grenades in an attempt to disperse the angry crowd, an ABC affiliate in Charlotte reported.

. . .

Earlier in the evening, police in riot gear reportedly used tear gas on protesters who threw rocks and water bottles at them as they wielded large sticks and blocked traffic. One officer was sent to the hospital after being struck in the head by a rock, police said.

More:
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/09/protesters-clash-with-police-after-charlotte-cops-kill-disabled-black-man-holding-a-book-photos/

[neeksgeek]

9. The violence is really starting to get to me.

This climate of fear and hostility helps nobody but the people who sell "solutions" to the things people have been taught to fear.

Those "solutions" could be guns, or "gated communities," or security systems, or headache medicines and antacids.

Those "solutions" could be white supremacist political candidates.

I understand the anger of the protesters, as much as I can without being exposed to their daily fears directly.

But I do not understand why the police find it so easy to kill. These killings are so outside of the judicial process that they amount to state sponsored terrorism against minorities.

I worry for my students, many of whom are young black or Latino men. I want to tell them that I, at least, may be white, but I am on their side.

In spite of my "status" as a white male, I personally fear the police and do not want to interact with them. I can't imagine what that's like for a minority.

[Abouttime]

11. So true

I fear if trump wins there will be riots like we've never seen.

[dhill926]

14. hell...I think there will be if he loses....

we're in for some interesting times.

[kirby]

12. Isn't North Carolina an Open Carry state?

NC is Open Carry with no license required, right? If so, how is getting out of a car armed with a firearm a problem?

[neeksgeek]

13. Open carry is generally legal here, AFAIK. You just have to have a permit for concealed carry.

And you do need a license for most guns. I'm not a gun owner, so the specific details of which guns, where, and all that, I don't know very well. I know that weapons aren't allowed on college campuses (other than the weapons security carries), UNLESS they are locked up in a vehicle. Of course in practice, enforcement of open carry seems to be applied rather unequally.

[Kablooie]

15. Still it depends.

If you are holding the gun that's a separate issue.
Also if the police tell you to drop your gun and you don't that's another issue.

This particular situation is still confused.
Witnesses said he didn't have a gun.
Police said he did and they told him several times to drop it but he refused.

There doesn't seem to be verifiable evidence for either case at the moment.

[rgbecker]

17. The news article says the police approached Scott after seeing him with a gun...

and getting back into his car. Why are the police approaching a guy just because he has a gun if indeed it is legal to open carry a gun in NC? Where are the 2nd amendment guys on this?

Without video, this is another case of police street justice with no evidence brought before a court. When the videos are available, even made by the Police departments themselves, it is often not all that clear that anybody is being threatened.

All the tasers should be returned for a refund, police aren't using them to keep themselves safe and to keep from escalating confrontations. Do the things not work? Doesn't the taser cause a gun toting black guy to be unable to shoot police with any accuracy?

So many questions.

[Marengo]

18. If he had a gun, it may be whatever he was doing with it. A handgun OC'd and holstered, or...

Holding it in his hand. The first likely wouldn't be considered a big deal, the latter may more alarming. It just depends on his behavior at the time. IF he had a gun.