Asheville police bodycam of violent arrest to be released to public: Judge signs order

ASHEVILLE - Police body camera footage of a violent May 13 arrest of a Black man by three white city police officers will be released to the public, according to an order signed May 22 by Buncombe County Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Grant.

The order came later in the same day as a bond hearing for Devon Whitmire, 27, of Asheville, who was arrested outside his home in the Erskine-Walton neighborhood, wrestled to the ground by at least three officers, one of whom pressed her arm across his throat, as seen in bystander video.

City Attorney Brad Branham filed a request on May 19 that the video be released to the public.

"It's the opinion of city of Asheville that in situations where there is a public interest in these matters, and we are able to comply with the spirit and the wording of the law with regard to production of these things, it's our goal to lean into transparency," Branham told the Citizen Times May 23.

He said he was not sure exactly how the bodycam footage would be released to the public, but believed it would be sometime this week, via the city's YouTube channel.

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When is police bodycam footage released to public in NC?

Bodycam footage is not public record, by North Carolina law, though those recorded in it have a right to view it, typically at law enforcement headquarters. But law enforcement agencies are forbidden from releasing copies unless someone obtains a court order. Those are easier to get for people recorded in the videos, though others, including members of the general public or the city can get a release based on reasons such as a compelling public interest.

Branham told the Citizen Times after Whitmire's bond hearing on May 22 that no date had been set for the court hearing on the body camera release order. But the order was signed later that night. The release has been backed by Asheville Police Department Chief David Zack to counter criticism that police used excessive force when arresting Whitmire as seen in video taken by his fiancee, Carrie Speigle.

"I don't know what the final rationale was, but judges aren't required to conduct a hearing. They often do. But if they decide that they're fine producing or signing the order to produce the footage without it, they have that discretion," Branham said.

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The order signed by Judge Grant says that two body camera videos will be released: One a 28-minute, 55-second recording, and one lasting 9 minutes, 44 seconds, worn by two different police officers who are listed only by serial number and not by name. But one officer involved in the arrest, Lt. Michael McClanahan, was present in court on May 22. Officer Shelby Middleton, who appeared in footage with her arm on Whitmire's neck, had Assistant District Attorney Katie Kurdys read a statement, in which she said in part, Whitmire's words and actions "put many officers, bystanders and most importantly himself in danger."

"The court considered the applicability of all standards contained in N.C. Gen. Stat. 132-14A(g), and determined that release of the requested recordings is necessary to advance a compelling public interest," the order reads.

Community, court criticism for both Whitmire and police

In the bond hearing May 22, District Court Judge Edwin Clontz said Whitmire lied about his name and "kicked after he was handcuffed," and therefore would continue to be held in the county jail under a high $85,000 bond his attorney had asked the judge to reduce.

But Clontz said that based on the body camera he viewed, the officers "didn't act appropriately" after Whitmire claimed to have a gun.

"They didn't see a gun. He didn't brandish a weapon. But they chose to lay hands on him without first requesting that he submit to their authority," Clontz said.

Whitmire, along with the original charge of communicating threats, was charged with multiple counts of assault, including assault on a government official inflicting serious injury.

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Speigle, Whitmire's fiancee, told the Citizen Times May 23 regarding the bodycam release, "honestly, the only difference that it shows is just from their perspective. They still did the same thing. No matter which angle you look at it. They showed the police didn't handle it correctly and that they assaulted him, at the end of the day."

Keith Young, former City Council member and architect of Asheville's reparations program, was disappointed in the words and actions of elected officials in the wake of the violent assault, including the rapid conclusion by Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams that no excessive force was used by police and comments made by City Council Member Sheneika Smith that the force was justified because, she said, "This individual had been on the rampage for days; terrorizing and oppressing our females, elders and youth ..."

"The arrest was definitely questionable. From whatever the defense is that you know, he was resisting or whatever he was doing it didn't seem like much of anything toward a forearm on the neck, over the windpipe because there was an officer on his torso and officer on his legs and the officer on his chest," Young told the Citizen Times May 23.

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"I don't know him personally, I don't know anything about his history or anything. But I do know that it looked like a chokehold the guy was in," he said, adding that a person should not be judged in an arrest by their past history, but what is happening in the moment.

While bodycam footage showed Whitmire saying he had a gun, after he was tackled he repeatedly said he did not have a gun and police found no weapon on him.

"I think we've become so desensitized to adverse police behavior or police brutality, that anything short of death is OK, right?" Young told the Citizen Times May 23. "And it just doesn't make any sense. I feel like that's because that's the bar now. Anything short of death is OK. Is that what we're doing? Because anybody with two eyes can see that there are some questionable things there."

Karen Chávez is Executive Editor for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Tips? Call 828-712-6316, email, KChavez@CitizenTimes.com or follow on Twitter @KarenChavezACT. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville police bodycam of violent arrest to be released to public