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Newly obtained camera footage of the body shows one of the men charged with the death of Ahmaud Arbery, who admits repeatedly trying to stop the 25-year-old from getting away.
In May, William “Roddie” Bryan’s attorney – Kevin Gough – said Bryan “had not participated” in Arbery’s murder. But speaking to an investigator on the day of the shooting, Bryan said, “I pulled out of our driveway and wanted to try and block it.”
GBI investigator Richard Dial testified at the preliminary hearing in the event that the truck Bryan was driving hit Arbery’s body at some point in the chase.
In the interview recorded on the body’s camera, Bryan gave investigators the video of the shooting that was filmed on his cell phone. Bryan also told investigators, “If (Arbery) had stopped to find out what was going on, it never would have happened,” adding, “Should we have been chasing him? I don’t know.”
Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael, and Bryan are all charged on charges of Arbery’s murder in February. Computer-assisted shipping reports and 911 calls from the Glynn County Police Department show that the McMichaels chased Arbery through their Satilla Shore neighborhood for four minutes after seeing him run out of a nearby construction site.
Later, the owner of the construction site, Larry English, told investigators that he has no video or evidence that Arbery stole anything from his property.
The McMichaels told investigators they thought Arbery was the person who entered an open construction home nearby with a security camera. Both men say they took guns before leaving their home and started following Arbery in their truck.
In the camera footage of the body taken minutes after the shooting, Greg McMichael said after seeing their neighbor, Bryan, driving down his driveway to block Arbery’s path – he and his son drove to Holmes Road to shut down Arbery.
“He comes over and comes back down and he’s here and he starts running past us – and Travis backs up and says ‘hey, stop, stop’ we want to talk to you or something,” said Greg McMichael against researchers on camera video of the body.
“Travis gets out with the (expletive) shotgun and runs over there, and I said, ‘Not Travis. Do not shoot. Don’t do anything, ”and the man turns and comes up to him and they start to struggle and Travis shoots him right in the chest. “
In the body camera video, Greg McMichael repeatedly told investigators that Arbery had been seen on a surveillance video before coming out of the construction house. He then told investigators that he would have shot Arbery himself.
The camera images of the body also show the investigators trying to interview Travis McMichael in the minutes after the shooting. The video shows how the 34-year-old is covered in blood pacing the streets of the neighborhood.
“We tried to stop him from talking to him. He started to run. We stopped and got out of the truck. He came running towards us. I told him to stop, to stop, to stop until he hit me. I had nothing to do, ”Travis McMichael told investigators based on camera images.
Interactions between Greg McMichael, a retired district attorney for the Brunswick area, and police officers investigating the crime scene. In one clip, McMichael asks one of the officers if his son – Travis – would be handcuffed. The officer replied, “No, why should he be in handcuffs?”
The video, which was featured on the record at a bond hearing for the case, is released as Gregory and Travis McMichael’s defense teams attempt to appeal Judge Timothy Walmsley’s order to file the bond for the two defendants to deny.
The judge’s decision to deny the bond – in part – came after prosecutors played a voice mail recording from Greg McMichael to then-Brunswick district attorney Jackie Johnson, his former boss, who asked for advice on the shooting.
In Judge Walmsley’s order against alliance, he wrote, “The appeal itself is remarkable, especially in light of the Glynn County District Attorney’s ultimate refusal and the manner in which this case was charged.”
In the 37-page filing, defense attorneys for the father and son claimed, “The court does not take into account that Greg McMichael spent his entire 64-year life in Glynn County.”
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