MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) – The head of the Minneapolis NAACP joined protesters in demanding that authorities release videos of an altercation earlier this week in which a police officer shot an unarmed black man to death.
Nekima Levy-Pounds, president of the Minneapolis National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said there have been “so many false narratives spun by the Minneapolis Police Department as to what has happened.”
“Enough is enough,” she told about 75 protesters and members of the media at a news conference outside the police precinct near where Jamar Clark, 24, was shot early Sunday.
Clark is the latest in a series of unarmed black people to be killed at the hands of police in the United States in the past several years, fueling protests nationwide.
Community activists have said Clark was unarmed and claim he was handcuffed when he was shot shortly after midnight on Sunday during an altercation with two police officers.
On Wednesday, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety identified the officers involved but did not reveal their races. Both are on administrative leave during the investigation of the incident.
“We’re demanding release of the tapes,” Levy-Pounds said. “We’re demanding reform of the police department and we are demanding justice for Jamar Clark right now.”
Authorities have said there was no video of the shooting from police dashboard or body cameras, but investigators are reviewing video from business and security cameras in the area.
They also are checking witnesses’ cell phones but said none of those videos captured the entire incident.
Bob Kroll, president of the union representing Minneapolis police officers, said at a Thursday news conference that Clark had grabbed one of the officers’ guns during the melee, although the weapon remained in its holster.
Kroll has previously said that Clark was not handcuffed during the struggle.
“This event should have been a peaceful encounter. It was the actions and choices only of Mr. Clark alone that determined its outcome,” he said. “The officers’ actions are going to prove to be justified.”
Frederic Bruno, an attorney representing one of the officers involved in the incident, said in a written statement that Clark had prior convictions for robbery and making criminal threats.
PROTEST CAMP ERECTED
Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is investigating the incident, has said Clark was unarmed and the BCA was still trying to determine whether he was handcuffed.
According to the BCA, the police officers had responded to a request for assistance from paramedics who reported that someone was interfering as they tried to help an assault victim.
The BCA said Clark, who died on Monday night at a hospital, was a suspect in the assault and had an altercation with the officers before one of them shot him.
Protesters have set up a camp, including more than 12 tents and half a dozen campfires, in front of the police precinct building near the shooting site in north Minneapolis. A sign near the building reads “Justice4Jamar.”
On Thursday afternoon, dozens of gallons and spray bottles of milk, which is often used to rinse out eyes that have been exposed to pepper spray, were seen throughout the protest site.
