What happened to body cam audio? Chester mayor calls for firing of cops after shooting
The mayor of Chester said Tuesday that two officers involved in the fatal shooting of a Black man outside a Walmart last November did not follow police standards for using body cameras and could face being fired.
The officers were involved in the fatal shooting of Arian McCree. The identities of the officers have not been released.
One officer involved in the shooting did not have on a body cam during the incident, Chester Police Department Chief Eric Williams said Tuesday during a news conference. That is a violation of police department rules, Williams said.
The officer who did not have his body cam on has been reprimanded, but Williams declined to give more information.
At the news conference Williams showed body cam video -- released Friday to The Herald -- that Williams says clearly shows the suspect, despite being handcuffed behind his back, had a gun and advanced toward a police officer.
Williams said that officer turned his body cam on when the incident already was in progress. However, the body cam has a one-minute, 55-seconds video backup where sound is not captured. The sound activates when the officer turns the body cam on.
That’s why the video that police released has no sound.
The body cam is activated by the officer pressing a button, Williams said. The officer did turn on his body cam.
That officer was not reprimanded because the decision to turn on the body cam came amid the time the officer was handling the shooting situation, Williams said. The officer had arrived at the scene and engaged the suspect, Williams said.
Stringfellow, who attended the press conference, said the Chester Police Department rules for body cameras were not followed and the city should take action, up to potentially firing the officers.
“I am talking about any employee that was mentioned during this press conference that did not follow established protocols and rules as they exist with the city of Chester Police Department,” Stringfellow said. “There is no room in the city of Chester for any officer who does not follow established protocols.”
The officer should have activated the camera when he started the pursuit of McCree because that is the standard operating procedure of the department, Stringfellow said.
Stringfellow said transparency for the public means having full information throughout the process.
Any officer must turn on the camera when it is required by the city’s own rules, Stringfellow said.
“Because the moment is tense, you forget all of your training?” Stringfellow said. ”In the heat of the moment, I expect my police officers to be at their best and at their keenest with their thinking in regard to what they are going to do for this community and its residents.”
Stringfellow said she is a distant cousin of McCree, and had tried to distance herself from the case.
The lack of audio is “unacceptable” because the incident has no sound to verify what the officer or anyone else was saying that could clear up the community’s concerns about the police shooting, Stringfellow said.
“It’s an insult to people that there is no audio,” Stringfellow said. “At this point I am outraged. I am very upset..”
Stringfellow said she plans to bring up the disciplinary measures at the June 22 city council meeting.
“This is something that needs immediate attention, immediate response,” Stringfellow said. ‘”That’s not only for the citizens, but that’s for the protection of the police officers as well. So many of these questions that are currently being asked could be put to rest if that one minute worth of video exists.
“If that means we have to suspend spending in other departments of the city to make sure that our officers have the best equipment to do their jobs, that’s what I am committed to seeing happen.”
Williams said at the news conference, as he did in an Interview Friday with The Herald, the officer’s shooting was justified.
Williams said McCree had been handcuffed inside the store with his hands behind him. Williams said McCree then ran out of the store after assaulting an officer. In the parking lot, McCree assaulted that officer a second time, then went to his vehicle where he obtained a gun, Williams said.
McCree approached the officer with a gun and refused commands to drop the weapon, Williams said.
“(The officer’s) commands were ignored,” Williams said. “(The officer) responded in a justified manner to protect himself and those around him.”
Williams said some in the public have questioned how a man handcuffed behind his back could point a gun. So Williams, at the urging of Stringfellow, was handcuffed by a Chester officer during the news conference and used a dummy training weapon to show how a suspect with hands handcuffed behind his back could point a gun.
The November shooting was investigated by SLED.
The S.C. Attorney General’s Office ruled n March in a statement to SLED that the officers shooting of McCree was self-defense and defense of others. The attorney general declined to press criminal charges against the officers.
The attorney general has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to have federal prosecutors and agents review the case.
This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 5:33 PM.
