Since Marcus Deon Smith died on Sept. 8, 2018 after being restrained by officers of the Greensboro Police Department, the public comment period at City Council meetings have been dominated by people speaking about Smith’s death.

In April 2019, Mary and George Smith filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Greensboro, Guilford County, the police officers and the Guilford County Emergency Medical Services employees involved in the incident.

As part of that lawsuit the attorneys representing the Smith family requested the police body worn camera videos of police using the Ripp Hobble device, which is commonly referred to as hog tying, on other people.  The federal court granted the attorneys that right, but the court order did not include allowing the Greensboro city councilmembers the right to view those same videos.

City Attorney Chuck Watts explained to the City Council that they only way for councilmembers to view the videos would be for the city to file a request with a North Carolina Superior Court judge. 

At the request of the City Council, Watts filed such a request in Superior Court and on Friday, Oct. 1 the members of the City Council were granted the right to view the police body worn camera videos of the 50 cases that are now evidence in the Smith lawsuit.

City councilmembers were given the right to view the videos, but not to speak publicly about them.

At the Tuesday, Oct. 5 City Council meeting several people speaking about the Marcus Smith case spoke in detail about the Ripp Hobble videos. 

At the end of the meeting Watts responded to the comments about the body worn camera videos saying, “Context is everything.  Certainly having to restrain a citizen is never going to be an attractive situation.  But the context is what provides an understanding of why it became necessary. These restraints are used generally when a restraint is needed to protect the person, the officer or other members of the public.  Plaintiffs do not speak to context in any of the examples they refer to in the pleadings or of the letter that has been referenced. I also wonder if all the folks who signed that letter had the benefit of seeing the actual video and understood the context of each of the situations to which plaintiffs refer. If so I’d like to understand how they got to see those videos when we had to go to court to get the right for council to be able see them.”

Now some councilmembers have viewed some of the over 200 hours of body worn camera videos that are at issue, but they can’t speak publicly about what they have seen, which will put councilmembers in an interesting situation if at the public forum in November people make statements about the videos which councilmembers who have watched the videos believe are inaccurate.

Since Marcus Deon Smith died on Sept. 8, 2018 after being restrained by officers of the Greensboro Police Department, the public comment period at City Council meetings have been dominated by people speaking about Smith’s death. In April 2019, Mary and George Smith filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Greensboro, Guilford County, the police officers and the Guilford County Emergency Medical Services employees involved in the incident. As part of that lawsuit the attorneys representing the Smith family requested the police body worn camera videos of police using the Ripp Hobble device, which is commonly referred to as hog tying, on other people. The federal court granted the attorneys that right, but the court order did not include allowing the Greensboro city councilmembers the right to view those same videos. City Attorney Chuck Watts explained to the City Council that they only way for councilmembers to view the videos would be for the city to file a request with a North Carolina Superior Court judge. At the request of the City Council, Watts filed such a request in Superior Court and on Friday, Oct. 1 the members of the City Council were granted the right to view the police body worn camera videos of the 50 cases that are now evidence in the Smith lawsuit. City councilmembers were given the right to view the videos, but not to speak publicly about them. At the Tuesday, Oct. 5 City Council meeting several people speaking about the Marcus Smith case spoke in detail about the Ripp Hobble videos. At the end of the meeting Watts responded to the comments about the body worn camera videos saying, “Context is everything. Certainly having to restrain a citizen is never going to be an attractive situation. But the context is what provides an understanding of why it became necessary. These restraints are used generally when a restraint is needed to protect the person, the officer or other members of the public. Plaintiffs do not speak to context in any of the examples they refer to in the pleadings or of the letter that has been referenced. I also wonder if all the folks who signed that letter had the benefit of seeing the actual video and understood the context of each of the situations to which plaintiffs refer. If so I’d like to understand how they got to see those videos when we had to go to court to get the right for council to be able see them.” Now some councilmembers have viewed some of the over 200 hours of body worn camera videos that are at issue, but they can’t speak publicly about what they have seen, which will put councilmembers in an interesting situation if at the public forum in November people make statements about the videos which councilmembers who have watched the videos believe are inaccurate.