A Superior Court judge has refused to unseal the video of the fatal shooting of a UNC-Chapel Hill student by Archdale police officers last month.
Courtland Benjamin Smith, 21, was shot by an Archdale police officer after being stopped on Interstate 85 just before 5 a.m. Aug. 23. Smith had dialed 911 as he drove west on the interstate at a high speed. He told a dispatcher that he was trying to kill himself, that he had been drinking and that he had a 9 mm handgun. Authorities still haven't said whether he had a gun.
The News & Observer and four other media organizations filed a motion Aug. 31 requesting that police video recordings of the incident and an unedited version of Smith's call to 911 be released to the public.
Two Archdale police cruisers dispatched to the scene were equipped with dash-mounted video cameras, and both recorded portions of the confrontation between the officers and Smith, according to the order handed down Tuesday by Superior Court Judge Vance Bradford Long.
The videos do not show the shooting of Smith but do show what happened immediately before the shooting and the actions of the officer afterward, the ruling states.
Saying that North Carolina public records laws do not specifically cover video recording, Long viewed the recordings and ruled that their release would undermine the investigation that could result in criminal charges against the officer who shot Smith.
Because that decision on whether to prosecute likely will be made in four months or less, release of the videos could jeopardize a fair trial, Long wrote, "while the potential harm to the public in delaying the release of the video is minimal."
The videos will be released at a trial or after a decision by the Randolph County district attorney not to prosecute, Long wrote.
Long did order release of an unedited version of Smith's call to 911. Authorities had released the 911 recording last month, but Hugh Stevens, a lawyer representing the media organizations, said there was reason to believe that what was released was not complete.
The other media organizations seeking the recordings are The Associated Press, The High Point Enterprise, The Daily Tar Heel and WRAL-TV.
