As Wednesday's CBS Evening News ran portions of an interview with the widow of Charlotte police shooting victim Keith Lamont Scott, conspicuously absent from the report was the portion of the interview in which CBS's Gayle King asked about her husband's violent past which had resulted in his wife seeking a protective order against him last year. After being omitted on the CBS Evening News, that portion of the interview did appear the next day on CBS This Morning.
A couple of weeks ago, the CBS Evening News was notably one of the broadcast news shows that neglected to inform viewers about revelations that Keith Scott had a criminal history which involved not only a conviction for shooting a man and shooting at police officers, but also more recently of violent behavior toward his wife and child. The evening news cast still has not filled in viewers on that relevant criminal history in spite of their revisiting the story on Wednesday.
The opening tease included a clip of Keith Scott's wife, Rakeyia Scott, trying to convince police officers that her husband did not have a gun right before he was killed:
SCOTT PELLEY: Gayle King with the widow of Keith Scott, fatally shot by Charlotte police.
RAKEYIA SCOTT, AUDIO FROM CELL PHONE VIDEO: He had no gun. He was not a threat.
The pre-recorded piece began with Rakeyia Scott recalling that she had begged police not to harm her husband, and tried to inform them that he had a brain injury and had just taken his regular medication. After a clip from her cell phone recording of her shouting at the police that her husband was not armed, King was shown asking about the gun that was recovered by police: "So when you see the video and you see a gun lying beside your husband, where do you think that gun came from?"
Then came a clip of Mrs. Scott repeating her claim that, contrary to police reports, her husband was unarmed:
I know he didn't have it. I didn't see a gun. Where that gun came from, I don't know. He was not a threat. You saw him backing up. Why didn't you just say, give him a command then? Why didn't you give him a command then? You didn't even give him a command then. You shot him.
After a clip from her cell phone of her shouting at the police after they shot her husband, then came another soundbite of Mrs. Scott:
And all we want is to know why. Just why. Why did you have to take him from us that day? Give us a reason because everything that you're saying right now, it just makes me angrier each day because I just keep hearing more stuff. Give us your reason, the real, valid reason as to why my husband's life was taken that day before me.
It was not until the next day's CBS This Morning that CBS viewers had a chance to see the part of the interview involving Keith Scott's history of domestic violence. At 8:16 a.m. ET Thursday, King was seen asking about the issue:
RAKEYIA SCOTT: What people don't seem to understand, they're trying to bring in our past. But prior to, I mean, after November 2, after this accident, after this motorcycle accident, and when he returned home in January, he was a totally different person.
GAYLE KING: Let's talk about that for a second because there's been a lot of publicity about the fact that you had taken out a restraining order against him.
The two continued:
SCOTT: That is correct.
KING: That he had pulled a gun on you, that there had been violence in the marriage, and to that you say what?
SCOTT: All of it is correct, absolutely, but that is my marriage. I don't expect anyone to understand our marriage.
Keith Scott's other past criminal behavior was not mentioned.
Below is a complete transcript of the report from the Wednesday, October 12, CBS Evening News, followed by the relevant portion of the Thursday, October 13, CBS This Morning:
#CBS Evening News October 12:
SCOTT PELLEY: Gayle King with the widow of Keith Scott, fatally shot by Charlotte police.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: He had no gun. He was not a threat.
(...)
SCOTT PELLEY: Tonight, we have the first interview with Rakeyia Scott, the woman heard in a dramatic video trying to stop the killing of her husband by Charlotte police. Keith Scott's death last month ignited days of protests. The incident began when officers came to the Scotts' apartment complex to arrest another man. They say they just happened to notice Scott sitting in his car with a gun. Scott had recently been severely injured in a motorcycle crash, and the medication he was taking may have played a role. Today, his wife described what she saw to Gayle King of CBS This Morning.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: Keith! Don't do it!
GAYLE KING: We hear you come to the scene and you're clearly very upset, and you're saying, "Keith, don't do it. Keith, don't do it. Don't you do it."
SCOTT: Keith, Keith! Don't you do it!
KING: What do you mean? What are you telling him not to do?
SCOTT: I'm not talking to Keith. I'm calling Keith's name for him to hear me. I'm talking to the officers that I actually see changing their stands, their positions.
SCOTT: Keith, get out the car!
SCOTT: And it's going in slow motion, but I see everything at one time.
SCOTT: He has a TBI! He's not going to do anything to you guys!
KING: I heard you say he has TBI, traumatic brain injury, he's just taken his medication. What kind of medication is it? What does the medication do? What was the point you were making about that? (Scott explains that he has to take his medication in the morning before he can remember what people say to him.)
SCOTT: He doesn't have a gun!
SCOTT: He had no gun.
KING: So when you see the video and you see a gun lying beside your husband, where do you think that gun came from?
SCOTT: I know he didn't have it. I didn't see a gun. Where that gun came from, I don't know. He was not a threat. You saw him backing up. Why didn't you just say, give him a command then? Why didn't you give him a command then? You didn't even give him a command then. You shot him.
SCOTT: Keith! Don't you do it! Did you shoot him?! Did you shoot him?! Did you shoot him?!
SCOTT: And all we want is to know why. Just why. Why did you have to take him from us that day? Give us a reason because everything that you're saying right now, it just makes me angrier each day because I just keep hearing more stuff. Give us your reason, the real, valid reason as to why my husband's life was taken that day before me.
PELLEY: An autopsy commissioned by the family shows that Scott was on his medications. In the police videos, it's impossible to see whether he was holding a gun, but you hear the officers yelling, "Drop the gun." Charlotte police say they recovered a pistol and claim that Scott was wearing an ankle holster. The investigation continues.
#CBS This Morning October 13:8:16 a.m. ET
RAKEYIA SCOTT: What people don't seem to understand, they're trying to bring in our past. But prior to, I mean, after November 2, after this accident, after this motorcycle accident, and when he returned home in January, he was a totally different person.GAYLE KING: Let's talk about that for a second because there's been a lot of publicity about the fact that you had taken out a restraining order against him.
SCOTT: That is correct.
KING: That he had pulled a gun on you, that there had been violence in the marriage, and to that you say what?
SCOTT: All of it is correct, absolutely, but that is my marriage. I don't expect anyone to understand our marriage.
KING: Does that have anything to do with this case?
SCOTT: Had they known him, then I would understand why they would be, you know, in defense mode. They didn't know who my husband was. They didn't know nothing about him.
