Mother Speaks After CMPD Ordered to Release Video of Son’s Killing
CHARLOTTE, NC — The mother of the man killed by a CMPD officer is talking about the decision to release police dash cam video of the shooting.
CMPD says Officer Anthony Holzhauer shot and killed Michael Laney in his mother’s front yard in July 2012.
“I want to see what really happened on my front porch,” said Ernestine Laney.
She spoke to WCCB Charlotte Tuesday evening as she prepared to view the footage as early as Thursday.
“I want the police to pay for what they done to Michael because that was a really tragic thing when they shot him in his head like that,” said Laney.
A Mecklenburg County superior judge ruled that CMPD must release the video to the press. It’s a case in which family and police give conflicting accounts.
“He was on the ground, Two police on top of him,” said Michael Laney’s stepfather, Andrew Todd.
Laney’s family says police chased him to his mother’s front yard on Crestview Dr. because his red scooter matched an armed robbery suspect’s.
They say officers had Laney restrained on the ground when they shot him.
Police maintain that Laney was struggling with officers, reached for a gun and Officer Holzhauer then shot him.
“It was unnecessary to run him down like that on the front porch and hold him down like that like he had something in his hands, but he didn’t have anything in his hands,” said Ernestine Laney.
A prosecutor ruled officers were justified in killing the 28-year-old father.
CMPD says Officer Holzhauer was also cleared in 2015 when he shot and killed Janisha Fonville.
Laney’s family is hopeful the dash cam video will give them answers. Still, his mother told WCCB Charlotte, “Nothing will bring him back. No.”
This is the second time this month a judge has ordered CMPD video be released under a new state law.
The law went into effect on Oct. 1, 2016.
It requires a court order.
The other case involves the shooting of 18-year-old Rodney Rodriguez Smith.
Officers shot Smith in June 2016 as he got off a cats bus.
