Hours after the funeral for a man killed by Savannah police during a traffic stop, the family of Maurice Sentel Mincey announced a protest, calling for transparency from the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.
The demonstration is planned for noon Friday at 1101 E. Bolton St.
Huddled on the same street where Mincey was killed, family and members of the South Carolina chapter of the Racial Justice Network asked again for the GBI to release footage in the July 17 killing of Mincey, 36.
"We want to see the video," Elder James Johnson, president of the South Carolina-based organization said during the press conference. "Stop sending out messages unless you're going to release the video."
The Mincey family held a press conference last week calling for transparency from the GBI after news releases from the agency contained contradictory information on the police-involved shooting.
Conflicting information
Mincey was killed around 9:30 p.m. on July 17 near the intersection of East Bolton St. and Waters Ave. An initial July 18 news release from the GBI alleged Mincey, a passenger in a car pulled over for a traffic violation, had pointed a gun at police during the stop.
But a July 21 update did not mention that the gun was ever pointed during the 50-minute traffic stop.
In the initial release, the GBI stated Mincey was "moving around inside the vehicle when officers asked him to stop moving and show his hands.”
However, the updated GBI news release said body camera footage shows Mincey “removed a gun from his waistband and placed it between his legs while seated in the passenger seat of the vehicle."
According to the July 21 release, Savannah Police Officer Thomas Love stood at the driver’s door and commanded Mincey to put his hands in the air. “Mincey disregarded commands, opened the passenger door while grabbing the gun, and abruptly began to exit the vehicle in the direction of another officer positioned on the passenger side of the vehicle,” according to the updated news release.
Love shot Mincey as he was exiting the vehicle, according to the GBI's official statement. Love has been placed on administrative leave while the GBI conducts its investigation, SPD spokeswoman Bianca Johnson said.
Love has been with the department since March 2020. He is the only officer placed on administrative leave as a result of the GBI investigation.
GBI’s initial and updated releases contradict witness accounts, which have raised questions about what was captured on bodycam and dashcam footage. Neither footage has been been released for review, prompting calls for increased transparency.
Family attorney Danny Dalton said it's too early to speculate on what other discrepancies there are but said the witnesses "saw what they saw."
"We've already seen the narrative change. Ultimately, we need to see the video footage," Dalton told the newspaper in a phone interview.
The Savannah Morning News has filed an open records request with the Savannah police for bodycam and dashcam footage. Under the Georgia open records law, however, certain records including footage that pertain to an active investigation are not required to be released.
There are still outstanding questions regarding the stop, including why multiple officers were called to the scene and why a routine traffic stop lasted 50 minutes.
"There is no standard set time for a traffic stop," Savannah police Chief Roy Minter said during a press conference earlier Tuesday. "It depends on the circumstances. It depends on what is actually involved in that particular traffic stop."
Raisa is a Watchdog and Investigative Reporter for The Savannah Morning News. Contact her at rhabersham@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Amid calls for transparency, protest planned for Savannah man killed in police shooting
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