Mississippi advocacy group demands release of body-cam video in officer-involved shooting
Published 11:06 am Thursday, August 25, 2022
A Mississippi advocacy group is calling for the release of body-cam footage related to an officer-involved shooting on Monday.
The Mississippi Alliance for Public Safety released it demands in a series of posts on social media.
“MAPS demands the immediate release of all body cam footage from all Biloxi PD officers who responded to a call at 330 Benachi Avenue in Biloxi at approximately 9 p.m. on August 22 resulting in the police-involved shooting homicide of 42-year-old Mable Arrington,” the posts on Twitter said.
According to news reports, Arrington died in surgery after she was taken to a local hospital to be treated for her wounds.
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MAPS demands the immediate release of all body cam footage from all Biloxi PD officers who responded to a call at 330 Benachi Avenue in Biloxi at approximately 9 p.m. on August 22 resulting in the police-involved shooting homicide of 42-year-old Mable Arrington. pic.twitter.com/bd5czTIvCP
— Mississippi Alliance for Public Safety (@MS4PublicSafety) August 24, 2022
MAPS officials say statements from a member of Arrington’s family allege that officers entered her apartment forcibly without a warrant and shot her five times with her children present in the apartment.
Part of those claims have been refuted by the Harrison County Coroner’s Office which reports that the shooting victim, later identified as Arrington, was found shot outside the apartment.
“BPD Chief Miller has provided no information to the public about events leading up to the homicide of Ms. Arrington, other than the responsible officer has been placed on paid leave,” MAPS Siad in the statement. “A spokesperson for MS Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell has stated that the department will not make any comments about the homicide during the investigation, which is being conducted by MS Bureau of Investigation.”
MAPS said that while the state public records laws permit investigative reports from being issued to the public, a law enforcement agency may use discretion and choose to release any part of such investigative reports.
“As a matter of public safety, BPD Chief Miller has the discretion and obligation to release the body cam footage to the public without further delay,” MAPS said in the series of Tweets. “As an agency directly accountable to, funded by and mandated to protect and serve the residents of Biloxi, Chief Miller’s first and most important duty, as stated by BPD’s own mission statement, is to ensure ‘progressive, reliable and citizen-oriented police services in the most professional and timely manner possible.’ Chief Miller– release the video.”