Bodycam video reveals police didn’t help Ahmaud Arbery as he died

Gregory and Travis McMichael were shown a high level of respect, versus the dying Arbery, who they'd just shot.

Dec 18, 2020

New video has emerged in the February shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery.

Body-camera footage from officers arriving at the scene of the shooting shows officers in Brunswick, Georgia providing no medical treatment to the 25-year-old man as he lay dying in the street.

Gregory McMichael (left) and his son, Travis, pose for their respective mugshot photos after being arrested on May 7 in connection with the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia. Both were each charged with murder and aggravated assault in Arbery’s shooting death. (Photo by Glynn County Sheriff’s Office via Getty Images)

The Washington Post obtained the video, to which it attached a warning label that the footage shows a man “near death.”

In the clip, the first responding Glynn County Police officer arrives within minutes of the shooting, and Arbery is seen lying on his stomach in the street covered in blood. Still alive, his head is seen moving, and he is heard breathing in a labored way.

That officer provides no assistance to Arbery.

Instead, the officer is seen talking to Gregory McMichael, who points at his son, Travis McMichael, saying, “He had no choice.”

A second officer is seen arriving, who, putting on gloves, checks out Arbery. By then, the man had expired.

“Got a pulse or anything?” the second police officer asked as he approached his body.

“No. He’s about to be 10-7. Man,” is his response. The code means “out of service” or dead.

More than half an hour after the shooting, authorities put a sheet over Arbery, The Post writes.

On May 7, Glynn County Police arrested both McMichaels, father and son, aged 64 and 34 respectively, and charged them with murder and aggravated assault. Two weeks later, a third man, William “Roddie” Bryan, 50, who filmed the incident, was in custody, facing charges of felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump released a statement Thursday, asserting the new video confirms the role Bryan played in Arbery’s death.

“The footage clearly documents that Bryan used his truck to block Ahmaud from escaping the McMichaels,” Crump said. “With the murderous teamwork of Bryan and the McMichaels exposed for the world to see, we are confident that this will bring us one step closer to justice for the Arbery family.”

In the bodycam footage, Bryan told officers he was concerned about break-ins in the neighborhood and that he wanted to help the McMichaels “apprehend” Arbery.

The officers also questioned why Gregory McMichael had literal blood on his hands. He told officers he lifted Arbery’s arm to see if he was armed. He was not, nor were any weapons or any questionable item found on or near his body.

Conversely to shooting-victim Arbery, the McMichaels are shown a high level of respect in the video. One officer immediately says the incident looks like “self-defense.”

“I want it done right because this doesn’t look good,” Travis McMichael tells police. “I mean, I just shot a man, last thing I ever wanted to do in my life.”

“Trust me,” one of them responds, “I can truly understand that.”

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