Charlotte has become the most recent site of racially charged civil unrest in the United States. After a third night of protests over a fatal police shooting, a six-hour curfew ended early Friday
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. Scott was shot and killed in an apartment complex parking lot on Tuesday during an encounter with police officers searching for another person wanted for arrest.
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.
Still, the protests lacked the violence and property damage of previous nights, and the curfew encouraged a stopping point. Local officers' ranks were augmented by Guard members carrying rifles and guarding office buildings against the threat of property damage.
Hundreds of National Guard troops and police reinforcements converged on Charlotte Thursday, mobilized to prevent further violence in the city. Several hundred National Guard troops and highway police officers have been deployed to protect city infrastructure and businesses, Charlotte police chief Kerr Putney said. "We are going to be a lot more proactive," he told a news conference. "We made 44 arrests last night because we are not going to tolerate the behavior."
Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts signed documents Thursday night to be in effect from midnight until 6 a.m. each day that the state of emergency declared by the governor continues.
After the curfew took effect, police allowed the crowd of demonstrators to thin without forcing them off the street. Police Capt. Mike Campagna told reporters that officers would not seek to arrest curfew violators as long as they were peaceful.
So far, police have resisted releasing police dash cam and body camera footage of Scott's death. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said Thursday that releasing the footage of Scott's killing could undermine the investigation. He told reporters the video will be made public when he believes there is a "compelling reason" to do so.
"You shouldn't expect it to be released," Putney said. "I'm not going to jeopardize the investigation."
Protests in Charlotte turned violent Wednesday as demonstrators attacked reporters and others, set fires and smashed windows of hotels, office buildings and restaurants in the city's bustling business district.
Forty-four people were arrested after Wednesday's protests, and one protester who was shot died at the hospital Thursday; city officials said police did not shoot the man and no arrests have been made in 26-year-old Justin Carr's death.
The troubles in Charlotte reverberated on the US presidential campaign trail, with Republican candidate Donald Trump suggesting that drug use in the inner city was somehow responsible."And if you're not aware, drugs are a very, very big factor in what you're watching on television at night," he said during a speech in Pittsburgh. Democrat Hillary Clinton discussed the unrest in calls Thursday to the Charlotte mayor and US Congresswoman Alma Adams, her campaign said. "Too many black Americans have lost their lives and too many feel that their lives are disposable," the campaign cited her as saying. "There are good, honorable police officers serving their communities across our country, and we must all work together to mend the wounds that exist and build the America we want our children and grandchildren to grow up in."