Alghough the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) has dashcam and bodycam videos of the officer-involved shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, CMPD Chief Putney has made the decision to show those videos only to the family and their lawyers so far, saying “We release it when we believe it is a compelling reason, but I’m not going to jeopardize the investigation.” The wife of Scott, Rakeyia Scott, has made her mobile phone video available and has claimed that it proves the police officers killed her husband for no reason except that he was black. But does it?
The video, though, does not show the shooting itself. What it does provide is a timeline of what she said and what the officers said just before and just after the shooting. And that timeline does not fit her narrative of the shooting. In fact, it seems to confirm the officers’ accounts that Scott was armed with a gun and refused to drop it even after the officers issued at least 10 commands for him to do so.
While Mrs. Scott and her lawyers claim that the audio of the video (much of what the officers and Mr. Scott are doing is out of the frame of the video) supports the claim that Scott was unarmed, there is nothing in the video or audio that is inconsistent with the account offered by the officers. There is much, though, that contradicts the claims made by the family and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) crowd.
For instance, Mrs. Scott and her lawyer, Justin Bamberg, claim that when Mrs. Scott is heard on the video saying, “Keith! Don’t you do it,” she was telling Scott to stand still after he got out of the car. However, that cannot be true, since she says “Keith! Don’t you do it” at least once before Scott exited the vehicle. (We know this according to Mrs. Scott’s own words recorded on the video since, after saying, “Keith! Don’t you do it” the first time, she says, “Keith, get out of the car. [Emphasis added.] Keith! Keith! Don’t you do it! Don’t you do it! Keith!”) In fact, she begins saying only after the officers have already issued the order at least seven times for Scott to drop the gun.
Mrs. Scott can also be heard telling the officers that Scott does not have a gun, but at the same time, the officers — who are looking at Scott at that very moment — are telling him “Drop the gun! Drop the f*****g gun!” Mrs. Scott continues to say, “Keith, don’t you do it!”
(Advisory! Video contains offensive language. And although it does not show Mr. Scott when he is shot, the gunshots can be heard.)
In all, the police are heard telling Mr. Scott to “drop the gun” at least 10 times, and Mrs. Scott is heard telling her husband “don’t you do it!” four times.
The actual shooting of Mr. Scott is not seen since it is outside the frame of the camera, but the shots can be heard just as Mrs. Scott is yelling, “Keith! Keith! Keith! Don’t you do it!”
The entire transcript of the video is below and is edited only for strong language that may not be suitable for some readers.
OFFICER: Hands up!
RAKEYIA SCOTT: Don’t shoot him. Don’t shoot him. He has no weapon. He has no weapon. Don’t shoot him.
OFFICER: Don’t shoot! [this is muffled and may have been “Do it! Do it!”] Drop the gun. Drop the f*****g gun.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: Don’t shoot him. Don’t shoot him.
OFFICER: Drop the gun.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: He didn’t do anything.
OFFICER: Drop the gun. Drop the gun.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: He doesn’t have a gun. He has a T.B.I. (Traumatic Brain Injury).
OFFICER: Drop the gun.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: He is not going to do anything to you guys.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: He just took his medicine.
OFFICER: Drop the gun. Let me get a [f*****g] baton over here. [muffled]
RAKEYIA SCOTT: Keith, don’t let them break the windows. Come on out the car.
OFFICER: [muffled]
OFFICER:Drop the gun.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: Keith! Don’t you do it.
OFFICER: Drop the gun.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: Keith, get out the car. Keith! Keith! Don’t you do it! Don’t you do it! Keith!
OFFICER: Drop the gun.
RAKEYIA SCOTT:Keith! Keith! Keith! Don’t you do it!
[At this point, four shot are heard.]
RAKEYIA SCOTT: F**k. Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him? He better not be f*****g dead. He better not be f*****g dead. I know that f*****g much. I know that much. He better not be dead. I’m not going to come near you. I’m going to record, though. I’m not coming near you. I’m going to record, though. He better be alive because — [muffled]. You better be alive. How about that? Yes, we here, over here at 50 — 50 — 9453 Lexington Court. These are the police officers that shot my husband, and he better live. He better live. Because he didn’t do nothing to them.
OFFICER: Is everybody good? Are you good?
RAKEYIA SCOTT: He good. He — ain’t nobody touch nobody, so they’re all good.
OFFICER: You good?
RAKEYIA SCOTT: I know he better live. I know he better live. How about that I’m not coming to you guys, but he’d better live. He better live. You all hear it, you see this, right? He better live.
OFFICER: [muffled]
RAKEYIA SCOTT: He better live. I swear, he better live. Yep, he better live. He better f*****g live. He better live. Where is…He better f*****g live, and I can’t even leave the damn. — I ain’t going nowhere. I’m staying in the same damn spot. What the f**k. That’s O.K. did you all call the police? I mean, did you all call an ambulance?
After the shooting, the family claimed Scott was reading a book and that he did not have a gun. No book was recovered from the scene. A handgun — which was videoed by local news media lying on the ground near Scott’s body — was recovered.
