POLICE have released bodycam footage showing an officer fatally shooting a handcuffed black man.
Ariane Lamont McCree, 28, died in a Walmart parking lot in Chester, SC, last November, with video of the incident only now made public.
McCree had been arrested and handcuffed on suspicion of shoplifting when he assaulted one of the officers and ran from the store, according to an investigation by the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office.
Police and eyewitnesses said McCree, despite being handcuffed, ran to a vehicle and returned holding a firearm, prompting officers to discharge several rounds into McCree.
The two officers involved, Nicholas Harris and Justin Baker, were placed on leave while the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office investigated.
That investigation, which concluded in March, found there was no wrongdoing on the part of the officers.
“It is clear from both officer and witness statements that McCree pointed his gun at the officers while handcuffed and that the officers then responded by firing their weapons at him,” an Attorney General’s office spokesperson said.
“Because the officers acted in self-defense and defense of others present at the scene, the Attorney General’s Office has declined to prosecute the officers.”
But after the release of the bodycam footage this week, and public pressure following the death of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests, SC Attorney General Alan Wilson announced another investigation will be conducted at the federal level.
“This was a tragic ending to what should have been a simple arrest for shoplifting,” AG Wilson said in a statement.
“When Mr. McCree was pointing a gun at officers, they acted to defend themselves and everyone else in that parking lot.
“[But] because of continued questions from his family and the community and in the interest of full transparency, we’re asking another outside agency to review the case and our findings.”
Chester Police Chief Eric Williams told Online Chester that while he understood the public interest, McCree’s death was a very different situation to that of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Williams said in the case of McCree, he believed the use of deadly force was authorized.
“Floyd was unarmed,” he said. “McCree had a handgun … he came out in plain view and walked directly towards an officer holding the handgun towards him. That officer had to respond.”
He said bodycam footage had not been released publicly until now out of respect for McCree’s family.
“I think we had enough respect to not publicize or release the video for the simple fact that [his parents’ lost a child,” he said.
It comes after weeks of public demonstrations across the US to protest police brutality, sparked by the death of Floyd.
