Newport police published a narrated, six-minute video Oct. 30 about the Aug. 26 shooting aboard a sailboat in Newport Harbor. The occupant died and an officer was taken to Newport Hospital, Chief Ryan Duffy says in the presentation.
The department's presentation combines selected footage from one officer's body camera with home-security video and Duffy's account. It carries a viewer-discretion warning for disturbing footage.
Duffy says the harbormaster spotted a sailboat matching the description of the Pathfinder, which had been reported stolen in New Jersey, and brought officers to the vessel shortly after 9 a.m.
In Duffy's account, a gunshot was heard from inside the cabin, an officer felt an impact to his right leg, and officers then fired. Duffy says officers later found the occupant unresponsive with a severe head injury and a firearm next to him. The presentation does not identify whose gunfire caused the fatal injury.
In the closing narration, Duffy says Newport police and Rhode Island State Police began a joint investigation under the attorney general's protocol for shootings involving officers, and that the investigation was still ongoing.
The department's accompanying statement says the video contains only a portion of the body-camera footage and is not a final determination about anyone's actions. The department says it consulted the attorney general's office in preparing the presentation.
Six State Signal asked police Oct. 31 for the full recordings and incident records, the original release date, and the current status of the attorney general's review. The department had not replied by publication.