Charlotte police chief tells Megyn Kelly he supports releasing video of Scott shooting

The protests in Charlotte, North Carolina, aren't just about the death on Tuesday of Keith Lamont Scott, a black man shot dead by a black police officer. Many African-Americans in the area feel they were denied justice after the 2013 police shooting death of Jonathan Ferrell, NPR reports. But a central question hanging over the current demonstrations is this: Was Scott carrying a gun, as police say, or holding a book, as his family says. Scott's family viewed police dashboard and body-camera footage on Thursday, and like police, they say the video doesn't answer that question.

The family urged the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department to release the video so the public can see, and on Thursday's Kelly File, Megyn Kelly asked Police Chief Kerr Putney if he would consider releasing the tapes now that the family has requested it. Purdy said he had no doubts that Scott was armed with a gun, but seemed supportive of the idea. The family's opinion "is a factor in whether or not we will release, but ultimately right now I don't have any authority to do so," he said. "It is in the hands of the State Bureau of Investigation, they're going to do an independent investigation in there, and I'll tell you, looking at it from all angles, I think that is probably the better option right now, and we'll see what they find based on their examination of the facts."

Kelly then asked Putney about the broader issue of police violence against black men, noting the statement from the Scott family lawyer that many people think minorities are considered "guilty until proven innocent" in encounters with the police. "They see this as a problem that is plaguing the United States, that cops — whether they're black, whether they're white — when they see a black man have a reaction that is racist," she said. "In your experience, sir, is there any truth to that?" "I can tell you, I don't have time to delve into that like I'd love to, but from a personal perspective, I can understand that perspective," Putney answered.

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"I'm gonna be quite frank with you," Putney added. "There was a time in my past when I had a similar perspective. I was not somebody who always liked police officers — I was on the other end of the spectrum, didn't care for them very much at all." After urging fellow critics to join the police — "we're always looking to diversity our ranks," he noted — Putney said when he became a police officer himself, "it gave me a different perspective, it gave me a balanced perspective, and that's a perspective I'm using as I make decisions that I think are gonna enhance the safety of our citizens and community members here in Charlotte."