NEWPORT, R.I. — Newport police on Friday made public a narrated video built around officer body camera footage from the Aug. 26 shooting aboard a stolen sailboat in the harbor, an encounter that left a 27-year-old Newport man dead and an officer hurt.
Police identified the man as Brendan Norris, 27. The department called the six-minute release its first video of this kind and posted it with a warning about graphic content. It mixes part of the camera footage with narration, radio traffic and other background.
According to the police chief, the harbormaster noticed that the name on the stern of the roughly 40-foot boat had been scraped away, but the model matched a vessel reported stolen. Officers rode out to the anchored boat at about 9 a.m. and found the engine running.
Police say Norris appeared to be raising the anchor before he went below deck. Authorities said he fired first and officers shot back. The officer who was hurt was struck by shrapnel when a bullet grazed his leg, and he went home to recover later that week. Every officer who fired was put on administrative leave.
The department said it put out the video because people had asked for the body camera footage, and that it talked with the city solicitor, the Rhode Island attorney general’s office and the city’s public information officer first. It said the video is not a final ruling on anyone’s actions.
Newport police and the Rhode Island State Police are still running a joint investigation under the attorney general’s protocol for shootings involving officers.
Section: More Newport RI crime news
Filed under: Newport RI Crime News
