Senate To Hold Hearings On Police Body Cameras

WASHINGTON (AP) -- As the death of another black man while in police custody sparked ongoing protests in a nearby city, the Senate on Wednesday prepared to discuss more widespread use of police body cameras.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., called for the body-camera hearings following the fatal shooting in North Charleston of a black man.

"I believe the deployment of body-worn cameras will provide increased protections for both law enforcement and those they serve," Tim Scott said.

The hearing has not been scheduled. "It's a great idea and I appreciate Tim for pushing it forward," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. and chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism.

Scott, in a letter to Graham and Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, called the North Charleston incident "tragic and unnecessary."

Walter Scott, who was 50 and not related to the senator, was shot in the back and killed by a North Charleston officer on April 4. The shooting was not captured by the officer's dashboard camera, which shows what appears to be a routine traffic stop until Walter Scott takes off running. But a bystander captured the episode on an iPhone camera, which shows the officer firing eight times at Walter Scott.

The officer has been fired and arrested.

A few miles from the Capitol, protests continued Wednesday in Baltimore over the death of Freddy Gray, 25, who somehow suffered a fatal spinal-cord injury after being handcuffed and put in the back of a police van. The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into Gray's death, and six Baltimore police officers have been suspended while the department tries to determine the circumstances of the fatal event.

(Copyright 2015 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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