Groups sue for videos of Minneapolis police killing
(Reuters) - Civil rights groups sued Minnesota state agencies on Tuesday to force them to release video footage of the fatal police shooting of a young black man in Minneapolis in November.
Activists have been seeking the release of the videos since Nov. 15, when Jamar Clark, 24, was killed.
The shooting came at a time of national debate over the use of lethal force by police, especially against black men. A number of U.S. cities have been hit by protests against police killings, some of which were caught on video.
"It's entirely consistent with our democratic values for the public to demand government accountability and transparency when police use force, especially if it results in a life being taken," Charles Samuelson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Minnesota, one of the parties bringing the lawsuit, said in a statement.
The ACLU and the Minneapolis branch of the NAACP said they were demanding the video be released under the state's freedom of information law, after law enforcement declined to release the videos.
The lawsuit did not say what possible video material may exist but stated the footage could shed light on conflicting accounts of what happened.
Some witnesses have said that Clark was handcuffed or restrained on the ground when he was shot, while authorities have said there was a scuffle and Clark was trying to get a police officer's gun.
"Disclosure of the videos will provide a substantial benefit to the public because it will inform the public whether the police acted appropriately," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit, filed in Ramsey County district court, names Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner Mona Dohman, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Department of Public Safety.
"Releasing any evidence, including video, prior to the completed investigation and prosecutorial review is detrimental to the case," Bruce Gordon, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety said in a statement.
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton said in late November that video from a camera in an ambulance at the scene was "a very brief fragment" and not conclusive.
Authorities have said there was no video of the shooting from police dashboard or body cameras, but investigators reviewed footage from business and security cameras in the area, as well as witnesses' cellphones.
(Reporting by Fiona Ortiz in Chicago; editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Steve Orlofsky)
