Videos Of Jamar Clark’s Shooting Death By Minneapolis Police Must Be Released

Community members gather for a Black Lives Matter demonstration outside the offices
of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, the Minneapolis PoliceDepartment's
union on December 3, 2015. Photo: Tony Webstertony@tonywebster.com.

On November 15, 2015, 24-year-old Jamar Clark was shot and killed by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. That shooting was recorded on building security cameras, witness cellphones, and an ambulance dashboard camera. The police say that no footage of the shooting was recorded on body cameras or dashboard cameras.

Investigators seized the various videos as evidence and, as the investigation into Clark’s death is still ongoing, they have refused to release that footage to the public. They argue that a release of the video would hurt the case.

While they may have a point that releasing the video might harm the case, there is a strong precedent for the public having access to those videos. The videos were taken by private business and citizens and they should have the right to do with those videos as they please.

Witnesses claim that Clark was on the ground and handcuffed when he was fatally shot. If that were true it would serve as a clear example of police using excessive force. This abuse of power has been a frequent topic of public discourse for the last two years. It’s not a new idea.

Activist groups have filed a lawsuit against Minnesota state agencies—the Public Safety Commission, Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and the Department of Public Safety. The suit was filed in Ramsey County District Court by the Minneapolis branch of the NAACP, the ACLU, and others. They claim the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) as a primary basis for the suit.

The lawsuit did not specify footage that might be held, but did claim that it could shed light on the case and help determine what happened. That is the reason the police are holding those videos.

The act of withholding them from the public doesn’t cast the investigation in the best light. Much of the discourse around police use of force lately has bee about the lack of transparency in the investigation of that force.