New bodycam footage shows police responding to the shooting of unarmed black jogger Ahmaud Arbery – while interviewing the three men who were later charged with his death, according to a report.
‘This man, whom we have seen on video breaking into these other houses countless times, comes dragging down the street. I mean, he’s got it done, ”Gregory McMichael tells Glynn County Police in the video obtained by Action News Jax.
An officer asks William “Roddie” Bryan if he is a passerby.
“No, not necessarily,” replies Bryan, capturing cell phone video of the murder that went viral and sparked worldwide outrage.
In May, Bryan told Action News Jax that he was not involved in the incident and said he wanted to clear his name after receiving threats.
“I must be truthfully acquitted of this because I had nothing to do with it,” he said at the time.
In the police video obtained by the agency Monday, Bryan tells police that he tried to ‘block’ Arbery as Gregory, a former Brunswick DA Jackie Johnson investigator, and that his son Travis was chasing him.
“When I saw him, I knew, I hate people out here being broken into, you know. So I yelled at them and said, “Do you have him?” And he kept running. He was all running, ”Bryan tells police.
‘… They’ve come to the end there somewhere, must have passed him by. As I was driving down my driveway I wanted to try and block it. But he went around everywhere. I made a few moves towards him, you know. And he didn’t stop, ”he adds.
The McMichaels and Bryan are charged with murder in Arbery’s death for allegedly chasing and trapping the jogger with their vehicles before the younger McMichael shot him.
The video shows blood-stained Travis pacing a few feet away from Arbery, who is drenched in blood, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The father and son have claimed self-defense.
“The last thing I ever want to do in my life,” said Travis. ‘I was playing with my child, before you know it, this. … “If he had stopped, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Gregory says, “I said ‘Travis, don’t! Do not shoot! Do nothing! The man turns and approaches him! And they start to struggle and Travis shoots him right in the damn chest!
The man tried to take the gun from him! [Roddie’s] put it on video, ”he adds.
“To be honest, if I could have shot the man, I would have shot him myself,” he hears the police say on video, the AJC said.
Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery Sr., said he prays for the three men to be sentenced.
“When I see a guilty verdict, I know the justice system is moving forward and not bringing us African American people back 400 years,” he said, according to Action News Jax.