SARATOGA SPRINGS >> The Saratoga Springs Police Department on Friday released video of the Aug. 31, 2013, incident that provoked the pursuit of 21-year-old Darryl Mount, who died months later from injuries suffered in the chase.
City Police Chief Greg Veitch said footage from Aug. 31, 2013, which The Saratogian had requested through the state Freedom of Information Law, was released based on “advice from legal counsel.”
The video was distributed to members of the media Friday afternoon and contained 15 minutes of footage from the camera on the corner of Broadway and Caroline. The video shows a moderately busy summer night on Caroline Street with roughly two dozen people in the street. Three police cars are stationed in front of One Caroline Street, a regular weekend protocol. On the right side of the street, in from of Tin N’ Lint, the victim appears to be standing and Mount, wearing a red shirt, comes up next to her and pushes her. He immediately runs around the corner onto Broadway, toward Northshire Books, with police in pursuit.
Six police officers chase Mount and go off the screen. The victim stands up quickly after being pushed and walks out of the frame down Caroline Street. No one appears to go to the victim.
One of the already stationed police cars then drives down Caroline Sreet, turns left onto Maple Avenue and turns back around to go right, toward Gaffney’s, near the ground below the scaffolding where police said they found Mount “unconscious and unresponsive.”
Early reports of the incident, which occurred shortly after 3 a.m., said that Mount had pushed a woman’s head against the brick wall outside a bar on Caroline Street. Police had said they approached Mount, who was on parole for a burglary he’d committed when he was 19, but he ran from them.
Mount ran the few feet up Caroline Street, took a left onto Broadway, ran into the alley next to Northshire Books, and made his way onto scaffolding (set up to construct a now-complete staircase), and fell, police said. Police said they discovered him unconscious and unresponsive on the ground below.
Mount was in a coma ever since. He died in May.
The initial incident was caught on a security camera at the corner of Caroline Street and Broadway. But until Friday afternoon, authorities declined to release the footage, saying they wanted to protect the assault victim. On YouTube, a woman claiming to be Mount’s girlfriend at the time denies she was assaulted.
In his Oct. 24 press release announcing the impending release of the video, Veitch said, “All victims should expect the police to treat them with respect and to honor their privacy and dignity. One issue that all victims of crime have to deal with is a sense of having a lack of control over their situation. This is a particularly difficult issue in abusive relationships and something that the public release of images, videos and reports detailing their victimization is sure not to help.
“Of course,” Veitch continued, “there should be transparency in public affairs. My hope is that we all remember that just because something is a public record does not mean that those involved are nameless, faceless strangers, videos and images of whom are to be downloaded, commented on and shared to satisfy our own personal curiosity. We should endeavor to respect those whose circumstances have become a matter of public record by keeping in mind their right to be treated with dignity and to have their privacy protected.”
Mount’s family and friends have maintained from day one that his injuries and the police department’s story don’t match up. They’ve held memorial dinners and vigils, picketed city Public Safety Commissioner Christian Mathiesen’s business and spoken out at many public meetings.
The family filed a notice of claim with the city and have until the end of November to consider further legal action against the city. Mount’s mother has not yet completed the paperwork to see a coroner’s report of his death. The family also has hired a forensic expert.
His mother said Friday afternoon that she does want to see the tape.
City officials have resisted calls from the family and other for an outside agency to investigate what happened that day and not acted on a New York Civil Liberties Union request to form a police review board in the city.
All previously released videos and police reports have been posted to the Saratoga Springs Police department’s website.
