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AFP
CHAROLETTE, NORTH CAROLINA
INVESTOGATORS in Charlotte faced mounting pressure on Friday to release video footage of the police shooting of an African American man, after protesters defied a curfew and took to the North Carolina city's streets for a third straight night.
The death Tuesday of 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott was the latest in a seemingly steady string of police-involved killings of black men that have fueled outrage across America.
The victim's family -- who like many in Charlotte dispute the assertion that Scott was armed -- have viewed police footage of his shooting and are leading calls for it to be made public.
But police here are refusing so far to release the dashcam video, arguing among things that this might interfere with a parallel state probe into the incident.
Their handling of the case stands in stark contrast to a similar police shooting last Friday involving an African American man in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
There, the video has been released and the white officer involved has already been charged with first degree manslaughter.
Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts said Friday she backed the idea of releasing the video -- which has been viewed by Scott's family -- but not just yet.
"I would like to have it released," Roberts told CNN.
But she echoed Charlotte police chief Kerr Putney's argument that care must be taken not to jeopardize the state probe.
One risk, the mayor said, is that if witnesses to the shooting see the video they might change their account of what happened.
City hall is in talks with investigators and"I think it is only a matter of time" before the video is released, he said.
The chorus of calls appealing for the release was joined Friday by the New York Times, which praised police in Tulsa and said the response in North Carolina was wrong.
"There is no legal reason to withhold the video from the public, and in this fraught situation, the best way to allay the community's distrust is complete transparency," the Times said in an editorial
