Did Keith Lamont Scott have a gun in his hand when officers confronted him in a Charlotte apartment complex parking lot Tuesday afternoon?
Or was it a book?
Police say the former. Relatives and protesters say the latter.
What we know is that, as Charlotte-Mecklenburg police resist disclosure of the body camera and dashboard camera footage, their narrative of a justified police shooting is getting elbowed aside by the social media livestreams and posts of angry relatives and protesters.
To bring clarity, police should release the footage now.
The police videos could bring much-needed clarity. Some protesters, for instance, even insisted Wednesday that a white officer shot Scott, not the black officer identified by police.
But Chief Kerr Putney insists he can't make the videos public.
"The law is pretty specific, especially around evidence for an investigation. I cannot release that," he said at a press conference Wednesday.
A reporter noted how Tulsa, Okla., police, aiming for transparency, quickly released videos of the shooting of black motorist Terrence Crutcher.
Putney replied that N.C. law allows him to show the videos to Scott's family, but not to the general public.
Putney was referring to a new state law that shields such recordings from the general public's view unless a judge orders disclosure. However, the new law doesn't take effect until Oct. 1.
Putney can legally release the videos now.
Editorial on 09/23/2016