Black leaders seek police videos
May 8—HIGH POINT — Black leaders are calling for the release of body-worn camera footage from the High Point police officers involved in a controversial arrest last month.
Black Leadership Roundtable representatives told the City Council on Monday that they and the Ministers Conference of High Point & Vicinity plan to petition a judge for the videos from the April 8 arrest of Keith McClain at the InTown Suites hotel on N. Main Street.
Bystander videos of the arrest showed several officers struggling to subdue McClain after police said he resisted being handcuffed and swung at the officers.
"The videos are very disturbing," Joe Alston said during the public comment portion of the council meeting. "The optics of that incident shed an extremely negative light on policing in High Point. They went in with the mindset of conquering."
If there is body camera footage from the incident, it's not a public record under state law and could be released only through a court order.
A department review of McClain's arrest on a shoplifting charge cleared the officers of wrongdoing and found that their use-of-force was appropriate.
The Black Leadership Roundtable is also calling on the city to pursue accreditation of the police department.
Alston said this would allow for outside oversight into police training practices and other policies.
High Point NAACP branch President Elma Hairston told the council the organization is considering whether to join the possible court petition for the videos.
She said she thinks police need to do more to explain their use-of-force policies to the community.
