The Newport Police Department on Friday released a narrated video about the Aug. 26 shooting in Newport Harbor that killed a 27-year-old Newport man and wounded a police officer.
The six-minute video, posted to the department’s Facebook page with a viewer discretion warning, pairs what the department describes as a portion of body-worn camera footage with narration, radio communications and other supporting information. It is the department’s first such release.
Brendan Norris, 27, of Clinton Avenue, died in the shooting. An officer who was shot was released from the hospital the same week and recovered at home. All officers who fired their weapons were placed on administrative leave pending the investigation.
The harbormaster had responded to a report of a stolen boat at the Elm Street Pier around 9 a.m. that Wednesday, and additional officers were called to assist. Officers boarded the boat in the harbor, and shots were fired.
The Rhode Island State Police and Newport police, coordinating with the Rhode Island attorney general’s office, have been investigating since.
The department said it released the video in response to requests for body camera footage, and described the format as an increasingly common practice among police agencies nationally.
“While BWC footage is an important tool for transparency and accountability, video alone does not always convey the full circumstances of an incident,” the department said in a statement, citing “rapidly evolving events, split-second decision-making, and information that may not be immediately apparent to someone viewing the footage without additional context.”
The video “is not intended to substitute for the formal investigative process, nor should it be interpreted as a final determination regarding the actions of anyone involved,” the department said.
Newport police said they consulted the city solicitor’s office, the attorney general’s office and the city’s public information officer before releasing it.
“This is the Newport Police Department’s first Critical Incident Community Debriefing video,” the department said. “We believe this approach represents an important step forward in how our department communicates with the community following significant incidents.”
Warning: the video below contains footage of a fatal shooting.
