The witness who recorded the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia has been arrested and charged with murder. The man was arrested after investigators found that he was allegedly involved, in part, in the February slaying of the 25-year-old African-American man.
Witness Tried to 'Confine and Detain' Arbery With Vehicle
An arrest warrant for William "Roddie" Bryan states that he used his vehicle to "confine and detain" Arbery multiple times in the minutes leading up to his murder on Feb 23 in Brunswick, Georgia.
The 50-year-old was arrested on charges of murder and attempted false imprisonment, authorities said. He is the third person to be arrested in the death of Arbery, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said on Thursday, May 21.
Bryan allegedly used his vehicle to "attempt to confine and detain Ahmaud Arbery without legal authority," in the 20 minutes leading up to fatal shotgun blasts that killed him, the warrant states. Investigators believe this "underlying felony helped cause the death of Ahmaud Arbery," Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vic Reynolds said in a press conference on Friday, May 22.
Bryan's Video Footage Led to Arrest of Suspects
Bryan's cell phone-recorded video, taken from his vehicle, showed Arbery jogging down a neighborhood road when he encounters a white pick-up truck with two white males. The footage then shows Arbery trying to run around the truck before tussling with the younger male over a shotgun carried by him.
Arbery was shot three times from close range with the shotgun and collapsed on the street. The video footage led to the arrest of his neighbors - Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, 34, who reportedly chased the unarmed Arbery for more than four minutes before the shooting.
Although the video was recorded in February, it went public in April and prompted nationwide uproar before the McMichaels' arrest. An extended version of Bryan's video, released by S. Lee Merritt, the attorney representing Arbery's family, showed that he also chased Arbery around in his vehicle in the moments before his death.
A person can be charged with felony murder in Georgia if he or she is alleged to have contributed to another's death, even unintentionally, while committing another felony. The charge of attempted false imprisonment is that felony in this case, Reynolds said.
