Video shared with grand jurors who reviewed the fatal police shooting of a Black man who was fleeing during a traffic stop was released last week by the Omaha Police Department.

Three videos were released to local news media, including The Daily Record, last Friday by the department. The footage was reviewed last month by grand jurors who declined to issue indictments in the Nov. 19, 2020, shooting of 35-year-old Kenneth Jones.

The shooting, the decision to not immediately release the footage and the reaction to the footage all prompted protests in Omaha.

The videos released are from the body cameras of Omaha Police Officers Dan Faulkner and Richard Martier and their cruiser camera. An Omaha police news release states that the video provided to the news media “is not the totality of the video shared during the grand jury proceeding.”

Police said the officers pulled over the vehicle Jones was in after observing it stopped in the middle of the street and then driving forward several feet and stopping several times. The officers said they thought the driver might be impaired, but the driver was not intoxicated. Both officers can be heard in the video repeatedly yelling “hands up,” and one officer says to “stop reaching” and “he’s got a gun” before shots ring out. The shooting takes place after Martier pulled Jones from the vehicle. Jones was shot three times in the back.

The Omaha Police Department released the video a day after a group of journalists and community activists who had filed a formal request with the clerk of the Douglas County District Court to review exhibits from the March grand jury investigation. The grand jurors returned no true bill in the Jones shooting and 14 other police in-custody deaths.

Police Chief Todd Schmaderer previously defended the officers’ actions, saying that “it was one of the most noncompliant situations that I have seen.” He said the officers found a .45-caliber handgun when they rolled Jones over onto his back to render aid.

Schmaderer told the public the body camera video would be released after the grand jury process. He said in a statement it was “unfortunate that a ‘review format’ was used” after the grand jury.

The Omaha Police Department issued a legal explanation last Friday along with the video, following an announcement a day earlier by Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert that the City Attorney’s Office worked with her and Schmaderer to facilitate releasing the footage.

“It has always been our desire to release it,” Stothert said last Thursday.

The Omaha Police Department said state law allows law enforcement agencies to withhold records that are part of an investigation that the agency is conducting.

“The Police Department has consistently and will continue to withhold investigative records since doing so is integral to fulfilling its duties and to ensure fairness in the criminal justice process,” the department said. “The Police Department has not made exceptions to this rule since doing so would likely lead to allegations of bias, unfairness, and inconsistency.”

Once the grand jury review concluded, a copy of the transcript of the proceedings and exhibits were made available for public review pursuant to state statute, and last Thursday was the first time that the transcript and exhibits were made available for public review.

“As a result of this disclosure by the Clerk of the District Court, and pursuant to the language in Neb.Rev.Stat. §84-712.05 which makes clear that investigative material that is released by a public entity pursuant to its duties no longer gets the benefit of an exception from withholding, the Omaha Police Department will release the video that was part of the Grand Jury’s investigation,” the department stated. “This variance to the Police Department withholding investigative material is due to the uniqueness of the language in Neb.Rev.Stat. §29-1407.01(3)(c) which requires release of this information to the public.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.