Knox County DA prevents release of police video showing Robert Bailey's death in custody

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — For the second time in a year, Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen has prevented the release of a video showing the death of a Black person during an encounter with police.

Robert Nathaniel Bailey was pulled over early Jan. 6, for driving a car with a broken taillight and was arrested on outstanding warrants, Knoxville police said. While in a Knoxville police transportation vehicle at the jail intake facility, officers report the 41-year-old became unresponsive. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the death, which is typical when someone dies in police custody. Early information shows "foul play was not involved,” the TBI has said.

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Not releasing the video

City attorneys met with the family Thursday to review the video footage of Bailey's arrest and time in custody ahead of a planned release of the video to the public. The family was able to watch the footage except, their attorney Lance Baker said, a 12-minute clip that was inadvertently left out of the viewing.

What the family was shown does not depict any struggle between Bailey and officers, Baker said, but that doesn’t mean his arrest was handled properly.

“It doesn’t always have to be excessive force. What about lack of medical care ... we just have more questions than answers,” he told Knox News Friday.

A few hours after the family left, Baker said, a city attorney called to explain they inadvertently failed to show the family the 12-minute video of the end of the transport, after Bailey required assistance. However, the city was now prohibited from showing the video to the family because in the meantime, Allen, the DA, sought and received a court order signed by Judge Steven W. Sword sealing the case.

Early Friday morning, Baker released a statement critical of the decision to withhold the video and of Allen's failure to contact the family about her successful effort to prevent its release.

“Was he assaulted? Did he have a heart attack or other medical emergency? Why is this information being kept a secret? Why can’t his own family know what happened?” Baker said in the statement.

In a statement to Knox News Friday morning after Baker released his statement, Allen defended sealing the case due to it’s status as a pending investigation. She also reached out to the family Friday morning, requesting to meet with them to show them all of the videos.

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“My office is not prohibited from sharing information with the Bailey family and has no intention of withholding anything from the family at this time or ever,” she said.

“Mr. Bailey and his family deserve a thorough and impartial investigation. That is why the TBI is investigating the case. The Court’s Order prohibits the Mayor of Knoxville and other officials, whose employees are potential subjects of the investigation, from releasing information publicly that could affect the integrity of the investigation. The information will be released to the public at the appropriate time.”

In a statement to Knox News Friday, city spokesperson Kristin Farley said as soon as the city realized there was additional footage of Bailey, staff members immediately put a plan in place for Baker to get it to the family. The judge's order, however, axed those plans.

"The order from the Criminal Court interrupted that plan," Farley said. "However, the City still advised the attorney of the additional clip in the name of transparency and clearly not an effort to conceal anything.

"As for the order, clearly city leaders are frustrated, as it was our intention to release this video to the family and the public this week."

Anthony Thompson Jr. video

After a Knoxville police officer shot and killed Anthony Thompson Jr. in an Austin-East Magnet High School bathroom in April 2021, Allen’s office refused to release the video to the public.

Knoxville media organizations, led by Knox News, joined an effort by Mayor Indya Kincannon to ask a judge to decide whether Kincannon had authority to release the video footage on her own. Kincannon, Knoxville Police Chief Eve Thomas, the Knoxville NAACP and all four of the officers involved in the shooting also pushed for release of the video.

At the time, Allen said the clamor for the video made it more difficult to conduct the work of determining whether police were justified in the fatal shooting. She eventually released the video in a long public presentation, and her office cleared the officers involved, saying they acted in self-defense and the defense of others.

Tyler Whetstone is a Knox News politics reporter focusing on Knoxville and Knox County.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: DA prevents release the video of Robert Bailey's death in custody