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Charlotte Press Conference on Shooting. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 21, 2016 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:30:00] MAYOR JENNIFER ROBERTS, CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA: And peacefully. And you have the commitment of your elected officials, you have the commitment of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, our police, our neighborhood and business leaders and our faith communities that this tradition will continue. We have a long history of transparency and accountability, which, again, we remain committed to.

We understand that with these events everyone has different viewpoints and perspectives. That makes it even more important for us to treat each other with dignity and respect and to wait until we have all the information. I ask that as you express your viewpoint or perspective, please keep in mind that our top priority is for Charlotte to remain a safe community for everyone who lives and visits here. Please be patient as our Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and other city leaders as this is an ongoing investigation and we are still gathering information.

At this time, I'd like to turn it over to the chief of police, Chief Kerr Putney, who will share more details about this investigation as it stands right now.

Chief.

CHIEF KERR PUTNEY, CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG POLICE: Thank you, mayor.

Good morning.

First of all, this is a difficult time, so I'm trying to be respectful of all parties involved. I'm not going to jeopardize the integrity of the investigation, but I will tell you the facts as we know them today. Those facts are based on witnesses' statements and evidence that we found at the scene.

Yesterday, September 20th, at about 4:00, we had officers from our metro division crime reduction unit searching for a suspect who was wanted for outstanding warrants. This occurred at the village -- at College Downs Apartments. Our officers observed a subject, Mr. Keith Lamont Scott, inside a vehicle inside the apartment complex. He exited the vehicle armed with a handgun. The officers observed him get back into that vehicle, at which time they approached the vehicle to engage this subject.

The officers gave loud, clear, verbal commands, which were also heard by many of the witnesses. They were instructing the subject, once he got out of the vehicle, to drop the weapon. In spite of their verbal commands, Mr. Scott, as I said, exited his vehicle armed with a handgun, as the officers continued to yell at him to drop it. He stepped out, posing a threat to the officers, and Officer Brentley Vinson (ph) subsequently fired his weapon, striking the subject.

The officers immediately requested medic and began performing CPR. Medic responded and transported the subject to the scene to CMC, where he later was succumb by his injuries. Our detectives, through their investigation, recovered the firearm that the subject was holding in his hand when he got out of the vehicle. It was in very close proximity to the subject.

As per our departmental protocol, Officer Vinson is being placed on administrative leave as we investigate this. As you know, there's a criminal track and a parallel investigative internal track to make sure none of our policies were violated, along with none of our laws in the state of North Carolina being violated as per the criminal investigation.

Yesterday evening at about 7:00 p.m., the officers encountered protesters who were coming to protest the officer-involved shooting. About an hour later, they saw -- we saw the crowd transition from protesters, demonstrators, which is legal, to more aggressive agitators who began to break the law. We had our helicopter to give us eyes from the sky, to help us see exactly what was transpiring there on the ground.

At about 9:00 p.m., we had a lot of the agitators begin to damage police vehicles and throw rocks, striking our officers. At about 10:54 p.m., I called for our civil emergency unit to come in, to try to deescalate the situation and disperse the rowdy crowd.

[09:35:08] Later on in the evening, early this morning, actually, about quarter till 2:00 this morning, an additional group of protesters and agitators gathered. They made their way down to Interstate I-85 and they blocked both lanes northbound and southbound. They broke into the back of a tractor-trailer and started setting items on fire. We gave multiple orders for disbursal to the crowd. When they were unheeded, we deployed gas to disburse the crowd.

Despite our constant direction to gain compliance and deescalate, the demonstrators pushed through the police line. We did manage to arrest one person so far, but as I said, this investigation's ongoing.

As of right now, we have 16 officers who have been injured. We have multiple police vehicles that have been damaged. And our officers, acting heroically, were just trying to deescalate the situation and resolve it as peacefully as possible. As always, our officers try to facilitate demonstrations and protests. They protect the rights of our citizenry. But when that behavior becomes violent, aggressive and destructive, we have to act, as we did.

And now we have a challenge here in Charlotte. People are watching how we respond, how we react. And I'm optimistic that the results of our action will be positive, will have positive outcomes. But it's time for the voiceless majority to stand up and be heard. It's time to change the narrative, because I can tell you from the facts that the story is a little bit different as to how it's been portrayed so far, especially through social media.

So, Charlotte, the challenge is ours. I think the future can be bright, but the work has to be done by all of us.

Thank you.

WILLIE RATCHFORD, COMMUNITY RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Good morning, and thanks to all of you for your presence here today. That's reporters, as well as the folk who stand behind me. I think it shows that we care about Charlotte-Mecklenburg and our community and that we're going to do all of the necessary things to get this right.

On behalf of the members of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community relations committee, I also offer my -- offer condolences to the Scott family and to the 16 officers who were injured last night.

As a community, we in Charlotte-Mecklenburg have always worked tirelessly to address concerns surrounding police and community relations. We have encouraged our citizens to exchange personal stories, experiences and diverse perspectives to foster growth and healing during difficult times, like we're going through just right now. As our community continues to respond to this most recent incident, we suggest bringing together houses of faith, community organizations and organizers, millennials, local police and many others to ensure that we are engaging in productive dialogue. We must all continue to -- the work that we've started to make Charlotte a community that honors us all with respect, dignity and appreciation.

In the past, as the mayor has indicated, we have always found ways to work peacefully through our differences and we believe that we will continue our legacy of solving our problems together. It is how we do things here in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

Thank you.

ROBERTS: That was Willie Ratchford -- he forgot to say his name -- with the Community Relations Committee. The city's Community Relations Committee.

So we understand that there may be continuing protests this evening and I want to emphasize that I have spoken with many community and faith leaders already and we are calling for peace, we are calling for calm, we are calling for dialogue.

I have also been in touch with the White House. The governor and I spoke this morning. I've been in touch with some of our state leaders, our county leaders, our school board, other local leaders and I want to thank all of them for being part of the collaboration that will help our community move forward in a peaceful manner.

[09:40:21] I am confident in Charlotte's strong police and community relations. There are so many good folk in this community who have been working so hard to keep that dialogue productive and to keep that dialogue open. We will continue to support that process.

I want to emphasize also, we will continue to be thorough and transparent in releasing information, accurate information, as so it is available. We want to dispel any misinformation that may be circulating.

Again, we are a collaborative community. We are a community that knows -- that knows that we rise or fall together. I'm asking all of our Charlotte communities to stand together to help us -- give us the time to get the right information and then to continue dialogue going forward at how we continue to be a peaceful community where opportunity is open to everyone.

And now I will ask the chief and our community relations, Willie Ratchford, to join me if there are any questions.

QUESTION: Chief, is the body camera, any of that, (INAUDIBLE) release (INAUDIBLE)?

PUTNEY: Right now, as you know, it's part of the criminal investigation. And we're still going through all of the footage from both body worn and dash. But until the investigation is complete, it's a part of the investigation and it can't be released at this point.

ROBERTS: One at a time. One at a time. Please, raise your hand and I can --

QUESTION: Have you seen the video --

PUTNEY: I have not seen all of the video. I've seen some of the video. There are a lot of officers who have responded and we haven't had the opportunity to get through all of that video at this point.

ROBERTS: Jim -- hang on. Hang on. We're going to go to Jim next. Jim. Hang on. We're going to -- hang on. We're going to go to Jim next. Jim.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE). So is there something you -- an image or a picture? Is there something you can provide today that might ease that concern and also (INAUDIBLE)?

PUTNEY: Again, I wish there were -- there was an opportunity to show property sheets, to show exactly what was seized. I can tell you a weapon was seized. A handgun. I can also tell you we did not find a book that has been made reference to. I can just tell you what I know based on what we've gathered through the scientific process of going through the evidence and we did find a weapon and the weapon was there and the witnesses corroborated it, too, beyond just the officers.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)?

PUTNEY: As I said, it's part of the investigative process. Right now it's evidence. That -- you know the law as well as I do. Right now we can't release it. It would be -- it would have a negative impact on the integrity of the case, and that's something that we're not going to do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a question here. QUESTION: Chief, (INAUDIBLE) officer (INAUDIBLE) under cover at

(INAUDIBLE) has been reported, does he have any (INAUDIBLE) or any background (INAUDIBLE) --

PUTNEY: I can't speak to the discipline because of personnel laws. But how long he's been on the force, he came on in 2014. He was plain clothes with a vest carrier that we wear with -- it has the big logo of police and CMPD on the front and back. And we had at least three officers who were there in full uniform when we engaged the subject at the scene.

QUESTION: Chief, was there body (INAUDIBLE)?

QUESTION: Chief, as we saw in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the decision by the police department to release video there, not only the dash cam, but also the (INAUDIBLE). Can you explain, is it a difference in state law? Is it a difference in (INAUDIBLE)? Why will you not (INAUDIBLE) release that today?

PUTNEY: The law is pretty specific, especially around criminal evidence for an investigation. And I cannot release that. And your other -- your other part of your question was --

QUESTION: That -- that was the question.

PUTNEY: OK.

QUESTION: I was just wondering (INAUDIBLE) --

PUTNEY: State law. Yes. Yes, sir.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

PUTNEY: Yes.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

[09:45:01] PUTNEY: The transparency comes in with our current legislation when an aggrieved party believed they've been wronged by the police and they want to see it, that party can have access. But in a criminal investigation, that supersedes everything else within that legislation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brad smith.

QUESTION: Chief, was Officer Vinson himself wearing a body camera?

PUTNEY: No. Officer Vinson was not wearing a body camera, as I -- as I recall.

QUESTION: So just the uniformed officers there?

PUTNEY: Yes, just the uniform officers who were there for the take down wear them, yes.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) -- PUTNEY: Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Can you see from the uniformed officers' cameras what did happen?

PUTNEY: I can -- what the -- the videos that I've reviewed, I cannot see in totality everything that occurred.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Question right here.

QUESTION: Do you know, chief, how much time elapsed from the verbal commands to drop the weapon and when those shots were fired?

PUTNEY: I do not know exactly the time frame, but it was in pretty quick --

QUESTION: A matter of seconds time (ph)?

PUTNEY: It was in -- yes, ma'am, a matter of seconds. It was in pretty quick succession that it all unfolded.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Question.

QUESTION: Chief, you talked about 16 officers being injured. You talked about the damage that followed. What arrests do you anticipate? More arrests in connection (INAUDIBLE) --

PUTNEY: I absolutely do. We're following every lead we have. There's a lot of footage that we're reviewing. Our intent is to bring everybody to justice who violated the law, yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Question.

QUESTION: And if I could follow up. Tonight, and (INAUDIBLE) talking about, you're your plans are --

PUTNEY: My plans are to have our people ready. We are. My plans are to be staffed appropriately. We will be. And hopefully we will have peaceful protests and we'll do things the Charlotte way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Question here.

QUESTION: Two questions. Did he have a gun in his hand the second time he came out of the car and (INAUDIBLE) say whether the weapon was loaded?

PUTNEY: He did have a weapon when he exited the vehicle. I am not aware of whether or not it was loaded, sir. Again, this is very early in the investigation. And I'll get -- I get believed every day. I haven't had an in-depth briefing yet.

QUESTION: Sir, he came out of the car twice?

PUTNEY: Yes, sir, he did.

QUESTION: Both times he had a gun in his hand? PUTNEY: No, sir. They saw the weapon in his hand the second time he

exited the vehicle.

QUESTION: Second time.

PUTNEY: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Question here.

QUESTION: At any point did the individual raise the weapon (INAUDIBLE)?

PUTNEY: That I do not know definitively. That is a part of the -- the statements that we still have yet to get. But at this point I don't know that he definitively pointed the weapon specifically towards an officer.

QUESTION: Just as a follow-up.

PUTNEY: Yes, sir.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) in the event that he would not have raised the weapon to the officer, can you just help us understand --

PUTNEY: Sure.

QUESTION: The situation, would an officer be justified to fire even if the individual was not pointing (INAUDIBLE)?

PUTNEY: Very good question. The totality of the situation is what carries the day. So if I'm making gestures, if I'm focusing in, if I'm turning my body in a certain way to look aggressive and to give you the understanding that an eminent threat is very, very likely, and I'm armed, all of those things in conjunction with one another can still give you that perceived threat under North Carolina law.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Question right next to (INAUDIBLE).

QUESTION: Yes, chief, can you tell me what the conversations were with Officer Vinson after (INAUDIBLE)?

PUTNEY: Could I tell you? Yes. But that's personal between me and him. I'm happy he's OK. It's a tragic event. Heart goes out to the Scott family for the loss.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Question right here.

QUESTION: Chief, do you know if the (INAUDIBLE)?

PUTNEY: I do not, sir. Again, those are details we're yet to uncover. This is the very first day that we're really getting to delve into a lot of those issues and we don't have all the facts at this point.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jim.

QUESTION: Mayor, you talked about (INAUDIBLE) about what you're doing (INAUDIBLE) situation tonight? Have you contacted groups or (INAUDIBLE)?

ROBERTS: Absolutely. And I also want to thank many members of city council who are here with me, including Mayor Protem (ph). Our city council members in the district and in their areas are reaching out to their faith leaders. I spoke to several ministers this morning. I've spoken to the NAACP leadership. And we absolutely want their assistance. We want their help as we continue to have dialogue.

Again, I think the local community, the Charlotte community, has the mechanism in place for that constructive dialogue. We all see this as a tragedy. We all want to work toward a peaceful community.

[09:50:03] We know that we have work to do. And our concern is that some of that agitation may come from folks who aren't living in Charlotte. And we want to again call on our local leaders to make sure our local community has that message that we want to resolve this peacefully, we want to work together. We see a better outcome and we have confidence in the good folks here in Charlotte who care about that positive outcome.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

ROBERTS: Those are all in process. We've heard from a lot of groups who are planning something. They haven't determined when and where. Again, our district folks, I know a number of city council members, we have our county commission chair here as well, they're to be in contact with their constituents. And, again, trying to help us get correct information out and to continue a dialogue that we know is absolutely need.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just a few more questions. Right here.

QUESTION: Chief, was the highway patrol (ph) (INAUDIBLE) retaliation (INAUDIBLE) things like that? What have you told the officers today as far as (INAUDIBLE) retaliation (INAUDIBLE)?

PUTNEY: Well, I told them to be vigilant, be professional and do the job that they've been trained to do and that they're committed to doing. I told them uphold their oath.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And over here in the front.

QUESTION: Chief, do you have the numbers from last night, (INAUDIBLE), the extent of the injuries that the 16 officers did have an (INAUDIBLE) tear gas was deployed?

PUTNEY: The extent of injuries varied, but they were all minor enough that they would be released. That's about as detailed as I can tell you. One was much more severe than -- than the rest of them, though.

QUESTION: Do you -- how many (INAUDIBLE)? How many officers were out there (INAUDIBLE)?

PUTNEY: No, I do not have those numbers yet because we were pulling from -- from a lot of different regions, but we -- we'll have to review our CAD and see if we can get that number nailed down for you. QUESTION (INAUDIBLE).

PUTNEY: I'm sorry?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

PUTNEY: We have enhanced our staffing and that's about as detailed as I want to be around those strategic decisions that we make.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two more questions. That's it. Right here.

QUESTION: Is there any (INAUDIBLE)?

PUTNEY: Strategically, we're going to be prepared for whatever we see. Conversations are ongoing for any and every resource we might need to bring to bear. But we're hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. That's the best answer I can give you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One final question.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

ROBERTS: Well, as I mentioned earlier, I have been in touch with the White House. There are people across the country watching what's going on and it is early in our information gathering. We're not ruling anything out in terms of resources we may need. But at this point, it's too early for me to give anything definitive about the Department of Justice, about involvement of other resources. But we are absolutely, as I said, going to continue to gather facts, be as transparent and as thorough as we are in Charlotte, as we have been in the past, and we will continue that conversation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you all very much. Thank you for coming out.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the press conference has ended.

I want to bring back in Art Roderick, our CNN law enforcement analyst, and Laura Coates, our CNN legal analyst.

Art, you've been listening very closely to what the police chief had to say. He clearly said a handgun was found at the scene of what went down last night, yesterday afternoon. The victim's family, though, said that this man was just sitting in his car reading a book. The police chief was very careful to say there was no book found at the scene but there was a handgun. In your estimation, what happened here?

ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, it -- I think the chief, it sounds to me, like laid out some facts very well. There's still some questions I have. It sounds like that this particular officer was part of a fugitive warrant squad, trying to execute or trying to find some warrants, execute some warrants on individuals that were wanted. He was in that neighborhood. We're not exactly sure what the initial contact was between the officer and the individual, but it sounds like the officer was in plain clothes. He had a vest on that clearly said police on the front of it. And three uniformed officers were also there.

[09:55:10] And, again, I think the chief and the mayor were both correct in their -- that there's a lot more information that's got to come forward. There's some video but it's not surprising to me that the individual in the plain clothes did not have a video. You wouldn't have that type of device on you or to --

COSTELLO: You mean a body camera?

RODERICK: Right. Exactly. If you were working sort of undercover.

COSTELLO: OK. So in a -- in a nutshell, Laura, what it sounded like to me is police arrived on the scene. They were going to serve a warrant on another individual. They noticed Mr. Scott sitting in a car and they noticed he had a gun. They approached the car, said please drop your weapon. According to the police chief, this suspect, Mr. Scott, got out of the car with the handgun in his hand. He did not obey police orders. And police opened fire at that point. The police chief went on to say, Laura, that people ought to listen to the voiceless majority because there's a lot of false information out there. How did you take that?

LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I took it to mean that, one, he had questions unanswered. We don't know if the gun was actually pointed at an officer, but he's really talking about the elephant in the room. Remember, Carol, just over a year ago, there was a hung jury in the Jonathan Farrell case where the young man was gunned down by an officer in Charlotte. And so we have a community that's still reeling with skepticism and suspicion with regard to the police officers. And whether or not they're using the deference that's given to them by the Supreme Court about being able to decide whether to use excessive force or lethal force, they're using it to their advantage in a kind of a 20/20 hindsight scenario. That's a real elephant in the room with the officer and the chief was trying to address today.

COSTELLO: So, Art, let's say Mr. Scott exited the car and had the handgun in his hand but his arm was at his side, he wasn't pointing that gun at police officers, would police officers wait for him to point it at them before they opened fire?

RODERICK: That is very tough to say. I, you know, I don't exactly know what I would do in that particular situation. But if he wasn't following commands, I mean, to get out of a vehicle with a handgun in your hand is not a good idea to begin with when officers are there giving you verbal commands.

Now, again, we don't know all the facts in this particular situation, but you don't have to have a handgun, you don't have to wait until a handgun is actually pointed at you because you're talking milliseconds of a decision as to whether you're going to pull your trigger or that individual is going to pull their trigger. So it's a very difficult question, Carol, and I hate to sit here and second-guess that officer at the scene. I'm sure he's second-guessing himself constantly at this particular point in time because no officer wants to be in this type of situation. COSTELLO: All right, I'm going to have to end it there for this hour,

but we're going to discuss this at the top of the next hour. And the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM will begin after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:10] COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.