Judge orders release of video showing confrontation between officers and Raleigh man

We've seen the injuries a Raleigh man says were inflicted on him by law enforcement officers.

And we know the Wake County District Attorney's office dropped the charges against Kyron Hinton.

And we know the Wake County Grand Jury has indicted the two state troopers and a Wake County sheriff's deputy involved in the arrest.

But now you will get to decide for yourself if this a case of police brutality because a Wake County judge on Friday ordered three police agencies to release dash and body camera video of the incident on a Raleigh street.

Hinton isn't sure it will change the minds of anyone who has already staked out a position on the case.

"The public is already divided. You know that's not for me to judge or even care about. That's always been an issue. But, as far as the video, it speaks for itself," Hinton told reporters after the hearing.

The charges against Hinton filed by the officers that night were later dropped.

And after prosecutors at the Wake County District Attorney's office saw videos from police body and dash cameras they took the cases to the Wake County Grand Jury.

Grand jurors who presumably saw the videos handed up indictments against each officer for assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.

Hinton admits he was drunk and waving his hands that night, upset because he had just lost money at a sweepstakes parlor.

"I had been drinking and had a crisis that night but I didn't do anything to law enforcement and I was no threat. And, again, the video will show that," he said.

Community activists who accompanied Hinton today say they have also seen video of his encounter with police.

They say it's reminiscent of the Rodney King videos that sparked riots in Los Angeles back in 1991.

"What I saw it does put you in the mind of the Rodney King beating but we do not want to react the way that they did with the Rodney King beating. This is very sensitive," said Diana Powell of Justice Served NC.

"When the public sees this we are asking that everyone do remain calm," she said.

Of course, the difference between the Rodney King case and this one is that the officers involved have already been charged.

The attorney representing media outlets behind the legal action to release the videos, including ABC 11, said there was a compelling public interest.

"Seeing what public officers do and being able to look at that is inherent in an open society. The press comes standing in the shoes of the general public to understand what happened here," Mike Tadych told the judge.

The three police agencies on the scene of the arrest didn't object to the release of the dash and body camera video but asked the judge to also authorize them to release audio recordings including police radio traffic and 911 calls.

An attorney for the Wake County Sheriff's Office hopes people will watch and listen to all the recordings before passing judgment on the actions of the officers.

Paul Gessner told the judge, "We just would ask that if you do decide to release it that we release all of it. If you want to ask somebody to put together a puzzle you need to give them all the pieces of the puzzle."

The judge ruled that the recordings should be released no later than four o'clock on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 30.