It's amazing someone was taking video when they came upon the Ahmaud Arbery murder

[Quixote1818]

Does anyone know who and why someone was randomly taking video driving down the road like that? Were they friends of the two men knowing they were up to no good and trying to catch it on video? I can't find much on the video. Without it those fuckers would have been off for sure and we know this shit goes on ALL the time. People murder blacks in the south in cold murder and then say it was in self defense. There just happened to be video this time thank God.

[Nature Man]

1. not very amazing

almost everyone has a phone with a high resolution digital camera in it.

[Progressive Law]

15. Unlikely that a stranger would whip out a cell phone...

... to record unremarkable events prior to the shooting...unless he was in cahoots with the shooters.

[Nature Man]

22. yes

no one would notice or pause for a pickup up truck parked in the middle of the street right in front of them with two armed men (one with a long gun) standing around it.

[Progressive Law]

25. the video starts before the shooter comes out with gun drawn

[Progressive Law]

27. Here's the full video. It starts well before the truck is even in sight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=0&v=-NhtsVLIk_w&feature=emb_logo

[stopdiggin]

20. I frequently ask the same question

Yeah, I got a phone. And it's always with me (if I can find the right pocket this time). And, yeah, it does video. But, swear to god .. by the time I got it un-pocketed, unlock code, swiped left (or right?), keyed video (rather than camera) .. I'm at least three blocks and 10-15 seconds past any "action" that is taking place.

So ..it's a legit question. How is it that all these people just happen to be "rollin' video" .. when the time is right?

[Nature Man]

23. if you ever go outside

and "stuff that doesn't add up" IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU (pickup truck blocking the street), you tend to notice.

This isn't even the point: almost EVERYONE has a smartphone with at least a decent quality digital camera in it.

[Progressive Law]

26. So driver thought to himself, "hey there's a truck in the road...let me film that." Unlikely.

[stopdiggin]

30. Yep. We all have phones

That's been kinda' established. But it's still going to take me time, and some forethought, to get the video on it rolling. Enough so that it seems unlikely I will capture the "critical" moment or footage necessary in any given situation or incident. From your comment, all I can surmise is that a lots of people must walk around "videoing" huge amounts of everyday life. But I don't.

(and .. as it turns out .. video in this case it provided a member of the posse "chase team" .. which confirms the suspicion I and many others held, that there wasn't a damned thing "spontaneous" or bystander about it.)

[Jamastiene]

2. The person who took the video was someone who knew the shooters.

I read it here on DU. I can't remember which thread it was though. Hang on and I will see if I can find it.

Edit:
His name was Roddie Bryan. He videoed his buddies doing the killing.

Video of Brunswick shooting made by one of victim's pursuers (William "Roddie" Bryan)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213402314

[Cha]

9. Thanks.. how much of a "buddy" if it

got out like it did?

ETA~ Just read the lawyer released it. Not sure why?

[Jamastiene]

12. I read the defense lawyer released the video in hopes of keeping

the one who shot the video from being prosecuted for being part of all that. Seems like it worked, but it seems wrong too. Shouldn't he be charged as an accessory?

[Cha]

13. Thank you.. I read that too, after I posted. And, yes

I think he should be charged as an accessory to murder.

Wonder if the McMichaels still think it's a good idea for them to have been Video taped?

[Hoyt]

3. Apparently, it was friend of vigilantes, and his lawyer released it.

I’m betting, but do not know, the “friend” is trying to save his ass. Whatever, I’m glad video was released Tuesday.

[Jamastiene]

7. He probably videoed it in case they got away with it.

That way the bunch of them could watch it for their own sick enjoyment later of their great days during the Trump admin, when it was open season on all nonwhites, gays, women, liberals, you name it.

I cannot think of any other reason he would have shot the video. I don't know that is the reason, for sure, but I'm reasonably certain. I know how sickos down in this area of the country think.

I wish I was a psychologist and could do a workup on their "thinking" processes and their psychology. Based on what I have witnessed down here and experienced down here, I can tell you, it would shock most people, just how causal the bigotry and KNOWING they can get away with things down here really is.

[mr_lebowski]

16. He (possibly) wouldn't have known in advance that the father and son would kill the young man

He could've been thinking video could protect them from legal trouble if this 'dangerous black man' attacked them, and then they 'had' to retaliate.

Dunno but I think it's possible, and also possible he failed to realize how freaking crazy the other two actually were.

[stopdiggin]

21. and .. up until the killing ...

this was all about a righteous cause. (not to mention a giddy testosterone rush) These guys are the "upright" neighborhood watch Zimmermans. They're the white hats!

[Proud Liberal Dem]

28. Why are they being called "vigilantes"

"Vigilante" seems like it has a slightly less negative connotation than, say, "murderer"?

[Midnight Writer]

4. Yeah, I think the guy who filmed it was part of the "posse". He was in the back up truck filming.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

5. The person taking the video knew...

... the murderers, supposedly.

Maybe someone not at their level of hatred and evil? Didn't expect that to happen, in other words.

[JI7]

17. see post 3 . Most likely he is trying to save his own ass

[Frasier Balzov]

6. It wasn't random.

The man behind the camera was part of the self-appointed posse. He retained his own criminal defense attorney who persuaded him to release the video in hopes that he will be spared from prosecution

[Cha]

11. Thanks. sigh

[ramblin_dave]

8. According to attorney Lee Merritt...

According to attorney Lee Merritt. who identifies himself as representing the Arbery family (he may not be the only one, both he and another attorney are mentioned in various reporting), the video was taken by a man by the name of Brian Williams who was "actively participating in hunting down Ahmaud Arbery". Merritt says Willaims' video was "anonymously shared online" and someone "leaked it". Merritt's account of this part seems a little speculative, but that's what he said. Listen for yourself in the audio interview he gave here..

[oswaldactedalone]

19. William Bryan

NOT Brian Williams.

[Cha]

10. I know.. I was wondering the same..

[Demovictory9]

14. videotaper was one of the three vigilantes

[greenjar_01]

29. The lynchmob...vigilante suggests that they were actually responding to a crime

This was a lynchmob.

[dalton99a]

18. This guy - William 'Roddy' Bryan:

https://heavy.com/news/2020/05/william-roddy-bryan/

According to some of Bryan’s Facebook posts, he is a mechanic from Brunswick, Georgia. Bryan is a Trump supporter, and works at a hardware store in the area. He appears to go by “Roddie” or “Roddy,” respectively, and is 50 years old. According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution, police documents identified him as the person who videotaped Arbery’s death.

[Hortensis]

24. From the initial police report taken from Gregory McMichael:

“McMichael stated that [Arbery] turned around and began running back the direction from which he came and ‘Roddy’ attempted to block him which was unsuccessful.”

I read in a local newspaper account that they first tried to stop Arbery in one location but he refused to talk to them and jogged away down another street. Then they repositioned in the location where they ended up murdering him.

Roddie Bryan's video has a sound like he cocked a gun, but no sounds of firing. Most reliable story of the video's release is that the attorney he hired leaked it to social media. Local news stations are reporting that Bryan is to be arrested.

Btw, although the McMichaels' excuse for accosting Arbery was that there had been several break-ins in the neighborhood, I read in I believe the AJC that in the prior month only one report was made to the police of a problem in that neighborhood and that was for a handgun supposedly stolen from the younger McMichael's pickup in his driveway. (Since speculation is rampant, I'll throw in my own wild one -- that the gun wasn't stolen and the report filed by this pair of renegades for some other reason.)

https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/6915-arbery-shooting/b52fa09cdc974b970b79/optimized/full.pdf#page=1