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A Pair Of Triad Police Interventions Raise Questions About Use Of Force

Photo of Kay Suber, Marcus Smith's sister, addresses the media. At left is Smith's mother, Mary Smith.
Courtesy Jordan Green
/
Triad City Beat
Kay Suber, Marcus Smith's sister, addresses the media. At left is Smith's mother, Mary Smith.

Two recent law enforcement interventions in Greensboro and Winston-Salem have prompted questions about police use of force. In Greensboro, Marcus Deon Smith died in the hospital hours after he was restrained by police in a position his family described as being “hogtied.” The family’s lawyer says the position left Smith unable to breathe. Smith’s family recently made a public request for Greensboro City Council members to review the police body camera footage from the incident.

In Winston-Salem, the city’s police department did publicly release body camera footage after the contentious arrest of a 14-year-old Hanes Magnet Middle School student by a school resource officer. The incident was caught on camera by a bystander, and local news organizations petitioned for the release of the full police body camera footage.

That video is now available on the Winston-Salem Police Department website. Host Frank Stasio speaks with Triad City Beat Senior Editor Jordan Green about the two stories and the bigger questions they raise about police body camera footage in North Carolina. 

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Laura Pellicer is a digital reporter with WUNC’s small but intrepid digital news team.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.