GREENSBORO, N.C. — Greensboro Police Chief John Thompson announced the City of Greensboro will appeal the decision to release the bodycam footage involving an incident at the home of City Manager Taiwo Jaiyeoba.
Previously, a judge signed off on releasing the bodycam footage from the night involving an incident at Jaiyeoba's home. The video would have been released on Monday. Now, a three-judge panel will make that decision - a process that could take several months to a year.
This all stems from a Dec. 28 incident at Jaiyeoba's home. Officers were called there for some sort of family dispute.
On Monday, Chief Thompson shared some details from the night. He said upon arrival, officers and paramedics observed that Jaiyeoba's daughters did not have injuries. He said Jaiyeoba was the only one on the scene with an injury but was unable to confirm if it was from the incident. Because of these observations, Thompson said there was no probable cause to arrest the city manager. The District Attorney's office said criminal charges were not warranted.
The Greensboro City Council was allowed to see the video in a previous ruling. The city council called it a private, family matter.
Now, the city is appealing a judge's decision to make the bodycam footage public.
“Appealing this ruling is necessary,” said Thompson. "It would be a bad precedent not to appeal.”
Thompson said he worries that releasing the video would discourage other citizens from calling 911 in similar situations. He said while he understands the city manager is a public figure, other family members involved in the incident are not.
Chief Thompson explained the nature of sensitivity in this footage saying, "it’s the statements that were made by family members. Some around medical, some around mental health incidents that may have occurred previous between other family members. It really is just the investigative process when officers show up, and they start asking questions, and they start getting details. Other information is talked about not related to the specific incident, and then really just the video of them. I think the mayor has said, this is a family in some type of crisis. They are emotional, the feelings are coming out, so it is sensitive. We believe that any citizen would be hesitant to want that information blasted out for everybody to see.”
Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan agreed.
"Calling 911 should not equate to relinquishing one’s rights to privacy,” said Vaughan.
The city manager's attorney filed a motion to intervene in this case as well, meaning they're asking to be included in any upcoming hearings surrounding the bodycam footage. Up until this point, the city manager has not been involved in the case to release the bodycam footage. The hearing for that is Tuesday.
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