CMPD releases videos from fatal police shooting of man on mother’s front steps

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police released two dashcam videos Monday from the fatal shooting of a man by a CMPD officer in 2012.

In the videos, two CMPD officers can been seen chasing Michael Laney, who is aboard a motor scooter, for more than a minute and a half at about 20 mph. Then Laney, who is wearing a red helmet, pulls into the yard of his mother’s house.

Officers tackled Laney outside the view of the two dashboard cameras, making it impossible to draw conclusions on what exactly occurred during the struggle.

Police and Laney’s family had given conflicting accounts about the moments before the shooting on the front stoop of his mother’s house in the 2300 block of Crestview Drive in west Charlotte near uptown. Nothing visible on the tapes contradicts either account.

In April 2015, the Observer filed an open records request with CMPD in an attempt to obtain the video in the Laney case as part of a review of police shootings. CMPD turned down the request several weeks later, saying the footage was not a public record under state law and authorities were under no legal obligation to release such material.

But when the newspaper petitioned the court to get the video released this month under a new state law regulating their release, a judge agreed. CMPD supported the decision.

Laney’s brother, Antoine Laney, 44, of Charlotte, reviewed a police video Monday. He said he was disappointed because he had hoped the videos would show exactly what had happened to cause police to shoot his brother in the head at close range.

In the video, 28 seconds elapses between the time officers get out of their cars and a gunshot is heard.

“It was fast, just like that,” said Antoine Laney said. “He never had a chance.”

Law enforcement account

This is how police describe the circumstances that led to the death of Laney, 28.

Police say detectives were investigating an armed robbery that occurred June 25, 2012, on Beatties Ford Road, in which a man was shot. Detectives say the suspect in that crime escaped on a red scooter.

On July 2, 2012, officers spotted a red scooter matching the description of the scooter in the robbery but lost sight of it. Officers in the area were told to be on the lookout for it, and it was again spotted by patrol officers just before 11:25 p.m.

Officers in two patrol cars chased the scooter along several streets off Beatties Ford Road, south of the Brookshire Freeway. After making eight turns, the scooter driver – later identified as Laney – pulled into the house on Crestview Drive.

Police and Laney’s relatives agree that a scuffle broke out, as officers tried to subdue Laney near the front door of the house. Police said Officer Ryan Shields, who was wrestling with Laney, saw the man reaching for a handgun from either his waistband or his pocket.

According to Andrew Murray, the district attorney who investigated the case, Shields yelled to Officer Anthony Holzhauer, “He’s got something in his waistband!”

Then Shields said three times that Laney had a gun, Murray wrote in a report on the shooting. “Officer Holzhauer heard his partner yell for him to shoot the suspect,” Murray wrote.

Laney died of a single gunshot wound to the head. Police said they recovered a handgun that had been in Laney’s possession.

Shields and Holzhauer were cleared by Murray of any wrongdoing and returned to patrol. “Consistent, believable evidence is that the suspect aggressively resisted apprehension and reached for a loaded handgun while fighting the officers,” Murray said in a statement.

CMPD spokesperson Rob Tufano would not comment.

Brother’s reaction

Late Monday, Antoine Laney watched video of his brother’s death. He and other family members had hoped seeing the footage would bring closure.

Instead, Antoine Laney said, the video left him with unanswered questions. Why didn’t his brother stop for police? Why were the officers aggressive? And why did CMPD wait more than three years to release the video?

“All we can do is keep wondering what happened,” said Antoine Laney. “It’s totally disappointing.”

Still, he said he believes the shooting was unjustified. He expressed disgust at conversations between Holzhauer and other officers who can be heard in the video. At least one person, seeking to comfort Holzhauer told him, “You did the right thing.” Another time, someone tells the officer, “You did a good job.”

Laney’s life

Laney’s family acknowledges he made mistakes, but they insist he was not violent. They dispute police accusations that he shot someone during a robbery, saying the alleged victim has told them that Laney was not the culprit.

Police never recovered the .410 gauge shotgun they say was used to commit the robbery, according to a lawsuit the family filed against CMPD. A judge dismissed the suit last year on technical grounds because some respondents had not been properly served.

Laney spent most of his life in the Five Points neighborhood near Johnson C. Smith University where he lived. He once worked for ADT Security Systems and later was a full-time caregiver to two of his three children.

Relatives described him as jovial and well-known in the neighborhood where he lived with his mother, girlfriend and their children.

Laney had been twice convicted of possession with intent to sell cocaine, a felony, in 2001. He was placed on probation for three years. His probation was eventually revoked, and he was sent to prison. Laney also had been convicted twice of resisting an officer.

“I don’t understand why the police had to shoot him like that. I miss him so much,” said Ernestine Laney, his mother.

Family’s account

This how Laney’s family described the encounter with CMPD:

Michael Laney drove a moped into the front yard with police cruisers, sirens blaring, close behind.

Laney wrestled with Officer Shields, escaped his grasp and headed toward the front door. Holzhauer and Shields tackled Laney as he approached the front steps to the house, pinned him face down and twisted an arm behind his back.

Shields yelled that Laney had a gun. Holzhauer put the gun to Michael Laney’s head and fired.

Andrew Todd, the boyfriend of Ernestine Laney, was sitting on the front steps when he saw police pursuing Michael Laney.

Todd disagreed with CMPD’s version of events. He said Michael Laney did not reach toward his pocket or waistband. Michael Laney wiggled his shoulders, but the officer was on top of him and he could not move his arms, Todd said. He said he never saw Michael Laney with a gun.

When Holzhauer pulled his weapon out, Todd said he jumped the railing and moved away. He said he heard the gunshot but didn’t view the shooting.

“I did not see the reason for killing him,” Todd said.

Relatives said one of Michael Laney’s cousins stood in the doorway and saw the confrontation. He told them the shooting was unnecessary and that police overreacted.

Other shootings

Family members said their suspicions have grown strong over time because Holzhauer has been involved in at least two other shootings since Michael Laney’s death.

Since 2005, 63 CMPD officers have been involved in shootings of civilians. Holzhauer is the only one who has been involved in three shootings.

Holzhauer, 28, who joined CMPD in January 2010, shot and killed Janisha Fonville, a mentally disturbed woman who charged at him with a knife while they were inside her apartment on Feb. 18, 2015. He was cleared in that case.

On Sept. 29, 2013, Holzhauer was one of several officers involved in a shootout with suspects who had fired at police and were chased into Cabarrus County. No one was injured, and Holzhauer was later awarded CMPD’s Medal of Valor.

New law

Release of the footage comes four months after another fatal police shooting ignited days of protests in Charlotte and in the wake of other videos released nationally showing deadly encounters between police and citizens. In the midst of the Charlotte protests, CMPD announced that it would move to share videos of police shootings in a timely fashion to help the public understand the circumstances and help build transparency with the community.

“It is a new day,” CMPD Chief Kerr Putney said when releasing police video of the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in September that has occurred four days earlier. “There is an opportunity to move a bit and to give the public what it wants.”

CMPD did not object to release of the Laney video when it was sought in court by The Charlotte Observer. Laney’s mother and brother supported the newspaper in its request and said they believed the video should be made public.

Mecklenburg County Superior Judge Lisa Bell on Jan. 23 agreed with The Charlotte Observer’s request, made through deputy city editor Doug Miller, saying that despite the disturbing nature of the material, there was a “compelling public interest” in what the video showed. The Observer first requested the video in April 2015 and renewed that request in January 2017.

It was the second time a court approved a news media request under a North Carolina law that took effect in October that requires judicial approval to release police dashboard cameras and body camera video.

As the issue of police shootings has gained national prominence, release of videos has accelerated, reflecting a sea change in attitudes toward public disclosure of lethal force.

Last summer, N.C. lawmakers passed a bill restricting release of police videos. With support of both GOP-controlled chambers, then-Gov. Pat McCrory, also a Republican, signed into law a bill to exempt police body cameras and dashboard cameras from state public record laws without a court order. But it did allow citizens to petition for release in cases where there was “compelling” public interest, the issue behind the two court-ordered releases to the media.

Supporters of the law say it balances citizens’ right to know with the interests of police. Opponents say the added restriction undermines transparency and public accountability.

Earlier this month, Superior Court Judge Jesse Caldwell became the first judge to approve a petition brought by the media under the law when he ordered the release of video from the June 2, 2016, CMPD shooting of Rodney Rodriguez Smith on North Tryon Street near University City Boulevard.

Attorneys for the two officers involved argued the videos should not be released. They said the footage could inflame the public and make the officers targets for someone seeking revenge.

But Caldwell said that the public has a compelling interest in the video that outweighs other concerns at a time when the nation’s attention is focused on police shootings of minorities.

WFAE-FM (NPR, 90.7), the city’s public radio news station, obtained the court order that won the release of video in the Smith shooting. Reporter Lisa Worf argued that the public had a compelling interest in police shootings and in understanding why the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office decided it would not pursue criminal charges against the officers.

This story was originally published January 30, 2017 at 7:32 PM with the headline "CMPD releases videos from fatal police shooting of man on mother’s front steps."