Newly released bodycam footage, obtained by The Guardian, shows police officers asking Ahmaud Arbery to search his car in a park back in November of 2017.
In the video, a Glynn County Police officer, identified as Michael Kanago, pulls up behind Arbery’s car. The officer gets out and approaches Arbery, asking to see his license. Arbery, who steps out of his vehicle, is dressed casually in athletic pants and a winter coat. He then hands over his license to the officer. After the officer returns from running his license, Arbery becomes agitated, repeatedly asking, “why?”
The officer informs him the area is known for drug activity and asks to search his car. Arbery declines the search and takes a step toward the officer, and at this point, the officer calls for back up, noting Arbery’s behavior was making him nervous.
“I’m rapping in my car. To instrumentals,” Arbery insists.
A second officer shows up, and Arbery continues to refuse to let them search his car as officers continue to imply there may be drugs in the car. As Arbery takes a step toward his vehicle, the second officer tries to tase Arbery, but the taser malfunctions. Arbery, although agitated, complies with the officer’s commands throughout the video.
“I’m trying to chill on my day off,” Arbery is heard telling the officers.
The encounter ends with officers letting him leave freely, but they do not let him drive his car due to a suspended license.
In a joint statement made to the Guardian by lawyers working for the Arbery family, they described the encounter as a clear depiction of “a situation where Ahmaud was harassed by Glynn county police officers.”
Arbery was chased and gunned down in February of this year while out jogging in the Satilla Shores neighborhood of Brunswick. Father and son duo, Gregory and Travis McMichael, have been charged in his murder. One of the suspects, Gregory McMichael, is former law enforcement with ties to the District Attorney’s office.
The district attorney originally referred to the murder as “justified” and failed to file charges against the McMichaels.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The bodycam footage surfaces as the Glynn County Police Department comes under fire for the way the case has been mishandled and was under political pressure to disband before the Arbery shooting amid corruption scandals.
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