Pat McCrory Holds Press Conference on Keith Scott Shooting, Doesn’t Mention Keith Scott

McCrory Tried to Troll Mainstream Media, Mainstream Media Instead Trolls McCrory

Governor Pat McCrory held a press conference Friday afternoon about the shooting death by Charlotte police of a 43-year old father of seven, Keith Lamont Scott, and did not mention Keith Lamont Scott by name once during the 26-minute event. McCrory held his press conference almost exactly 72 hours after Scott was shot to death by police, and over one hour after NBC News disturbing aired video taken by Scott’s wife of his killing. 

The North Carolina Republican who is running for re-election seemed to want to troll the mainstream media and began the press conference by scolding them, spending several minutes discussing flooding in the northern part of the state. McCrory insisted that if the media weren’t camped out in Charlotte they would be covering the flooding as a national news story. He then praised and applauded first responders, bragging how they gave him a blue shirt:

As McCrory continued, he began praising law enforcement officers – not citizens – for maintaining order during Thursday night’s peaceful protests, calling those who caused damage or harm the previous two nights outside agitators, claiming some were from out of state, and insisting they were anarchists.

“There are groups from out-of-state that want to cause anarchy. This state, this governor and Charlotte will not tolerate those individuals who want to cause harm to our basic society norms,” McCrory said. “I appreciate those citizens stepping in and saying, ‘this is not the best in America.’”

“Thank you very much to National Guard. I saw people hugging, them hugging back,” McCrory continued. “The best in America that we saw. We saw the best of Charlotte in tense situations, where we had community leaders and members of the clergy step in between the Guard and people who didn’t want to have a peaceful situation.”

As it became clear he was not going to discuss the actual shooting or death of Keith Lamont Scott, CBS News online began posting split-screen images from the video taken by Rakeyia Scott, the wife of Keith Scott, and Gov. McCrory.

They also posted images of the protests, and even of one man apparently trying to clean tear gas from his eyes.

All this as McCrory praised Charlotte police officers for their efforts.

At one point, McCrory even offered sympathy and support to the police, noting what a challenging week this has been for them – not for the Scott family.

Not once did McCrory mention Keith Lamont Scott, Rakeyia Scott, or their seven children.

Not once.

He did try to insist the police video, which Charlotte police chief Kerr Putney refuses to release to the public, should not be released. McCrory signed a law, effective October 1, that makes it illegal for such videos to be released unless ordered by a judge.

On Twitter McCrory tweeted how he took time to meet with a rescue team, who valiantly save 87 people – certainly commendable, and nothing should take away from their bravery or selflessness. But Gov. McCrory has not met with or even contacted the Scott family.

On Twitter, many expressed outrage over McCrory’s tone-deafness:

Here’s the full video of McCrory’s press conference, if you care to watch: 

 

Images: Screenshots via CBS News