As the Michigan State Police investigate Sunday night's shooting of 40-year-old Aura Rosser by an Ann Arbor Police officer, there's one piece of evidence they won't have. That's a video recording of the incident. A city council member says discussions about adding body cameras for police officers just became a higher priority in his mind.
Chuck Warpehoski started talks about the cameras with Police Chief John Seto earlier this fall in response to the shooting of an unarmed teen in Ferguson, Missouri. He says cameras could have been useful in Ferguson in resolving what happened, and might have helped in this case as well. "If there's good video evidence that investigators can look at, review what happened, was the right call made? That eliminates a lot of the controversy. The police acted appropriately, it clears their name, if they acted inappropriately it makes that clear as well," Warpehoski says.
As the state police investigation into the shooting continues, Warpehoski plans to meet with community members to discuss the cameras.
He says the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department is also looking at adding body cameras.
Police Chief John Seto hasn't responded to a request for comments at this time.
Like 89.1 WEMU on Facebook and follow us on Twitter— Andrew Cluley is the Ann Arbor beat reporter, and anchor for 89.1 WEMU News. Contact him at734.487.3363 or email him acluley@emich.edu.
