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Judge: Release Video In Charlotte Police Shooting Of Suspect

Credit: Scott Davidson for Wikipedia

A North Carolina judge has ordered the release of video showing a fatal shooting by Charlotte-Mecklenburg police in 2012. This is the second ruling since a controversial new state law took effect October 1st.

Mecklenburg County Superior Judge Lisa Bell ruled the police department must release the video to the Charlotte Observer.

The paper reports the footage relates to the killing of 28-year-old Michael Laney, whose family and police give conflicting accounts of what happened.

A prosecutor ruled officers were justified in the shooting. Family members said the shooting was unnecessary and officers overreacted.

This is the second time in as many weeks that the court approved a petition under North Carolina's law requiring a judge's approval to release footage from police body and dash cameras.

Earlier this month, another judge ordered the release of video in the June 2nd police shooting of Rodney Rodriguez Smith. That video has not yet been made available to the public.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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