Wife of Keith Lamont Scott releases cell phone video of ShootingBy: Kyle West, Xiro Xone News September 23, 2016 Updated: 1:36 PMSource: Courtesy of Eduardo K. Curry, Attorney for Keith Scott Family/Curry Law Firm
The family of Keith Lamont Scott, the man shot dead by Charlotte police, have released video that his wife recorded on her cellphone at the time of the killing that includes sounds of gunfire and her pleas for police not to shoot him.
The two-minute and 12-second video, broadcast first by MSNBC, was obtained by NBC reporter Gabe Gutierrez who said the Scott family was planning to distribute it widely. Family and witnesses dispute this account, saying that Scott is disabled with a brain injury and was reading a book while waiting for his son to get off the bus.Rakeyia Scott is heard telling officers that her husband has "T.B.I.," or a traumatic brain injury and that he had just taken medication. In the video, which begins before shots are fired, Rakeyia Scott — who had gone inside to recharge her cell phone while Keith sat in the car awaiting his son's school bus — approaches the area where several vehicles, including a police car, are clustered. "Don't shoot him, he has no weapons!" she shouts at the officers. Her pleas alternate with the sound of voices, apparently the officers, repeatedly shouting, "Drop the gun! Drop the gun!" Rakeyia calls out to them, saying he does not have a gun. ""He doesn't have a gun, he has TBI (traumatic brain injury). He is not going to do anything to you guys, he just took his medicine." She also shouts to Scott, who is blocked in the video by cars, saying, "Come on out the car, Keith. Don't do it." Within seconds, four shots ring out in quick succession. "Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him? He better not be (expletive) dead!" she shouts. Rakeyia continues to record, yelling at the officers that she is not going to go near them. "I'm going to record you. He better be alive." She also asks the officers if they have called for an ambulance. After the gunshots are heard, Scott can be seen lying on the ground while his wife says “he better live.” She continues recording and asks if an ambulance is called as officers stand over Scott. It is not clear if they are checking Scott, who appears to be laying on his chest, for weapons or attempting to render aid. The video comes after a third night of protests over the shooting gave way to quiet streets as a curfew enacted by the city's mayor ended early Friday. The largely peaceful Thursday night demonstrations in the city's business district, watched over by rifle-toting members of the National Guard, called on police to release video that could resolve wildly different accounts of the shooting of a black man earlier this week. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said Friday that there is footage from at least one police body camera and one dashboard camera. The family of Keith Lamont Scott, 43, was shown the footage Thursday of his fatal shooting and demanded that police release it to the public. The video recorded by Scott's wife had not been previously released. Demonstrators chanted "release the tape" and "we want the tape" Thursday while briefly blocking an intersection near Bank of America headquarters and later climbing the steps to the door of the city government center. Later, several dozen demonstrators walked onto an interstate highway through the city, but they were pushed back by police in riot gear. 
Photo: SCOTT FAMILY/LAW FIRM)
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