result has now been resolved. tributes are paid to a popular and talented police officer killed at a custody centre in south london. sergeant matt ratana was shot, as a suspect in handcuffs was being booked in. us media say donald trump will nominate conservative federaljudge, amy coney barrett, to the supreme court. a formal announcement from the white house is expected later. now on bbc news, the killing of george floyd, caught on camera by eye—witnesses, has led to an outpouring of anger in america. but what happens when the cameras are turned off — or if there are no cameras at all? our world tells the stories of witnesses to police brutality who say they've been intimidated and even threatened with incarceration. what chance is there of lasting change if witnesses are scared to speak out? a warning — this film contains scenes which some

viewers may find upsetting. george floyd is the face of thousands that have gone before him. he is the straw that broke the camel's back. after the brutal police killing of george floyd, protests erupted across america and the world. nojustice, no peace! i can't breathe, please, your knee in my neck, i can't breathe. a video shot by a passerby has changed the way many people view officers‘ treatment of black people in the us. george floyd! say his name! but when the cameras are turned off, what happens to the witnesses? witnesses are intimidated. they are fearful that they will be targeted if they come out and testify against a police officer. this film tells the story of the people who have witnessed police brutality...

ijust seen the cops kill somebody. i didn't know what was going to happen to me next. ..and how the police can turn against them. one was coming at me with the gun in my face. i was scared, i was terrified. independence day in 2016 in baton rouge, louisiana. it had been a busy day for store owner abdullah muflahi and his friend and colleague, alton stirling. first time i met alton was when i first came down from detroit. down here from detroit. he was selling cds at the store i first started working at. he is the one who actually welcomed me to baton rouge and told me if i needed

help with anything, to actually ask him. this is actually where he usually set up, was right here. now, 37—year—old alton was selling cds from a table outside abdullah's shop. he loved it out here, he knew everybody and everybody knew him. but around midnight, someone had called the police on alton, for allegedly threatening a homeless man with a gun. excuse me, man, can you put your hands on the car real quick? stop, stop. what you're talking about? put your hands on the car. don't move brother, stop. what did i did, sir, what i did? don't bleep move or i'll shoot bleep your ass! put your hands on the car i will shoot you too, in the bleep head, do you understand me? i ran outside, i saw the police tackling and tailoring him and fighting with him. tase his ass.

get on the ground! it didn't seem like what they were doing was right. they were escalating the problem rather than deescalating it. just clicked in my head, hey, pull your phone out and record. you move, i bleep swear to god. gunshots. get on the ground! gunshots. i was only, like, maybe a couple of feet away from him when all of that happened. it was very shocking, felt like it was a nightmare. oh my god, stop, everybody stop! the two police officers realised abdullah had been standing right next to them. detain him. for what? you were out here, you witnessed everything, so we're

gonna detain you. damn, man. put him in the car. i was still in shock, i still didn't know what was going on. i just saw the cops kill somebody, i didn't know what was going to happen to me next. they were treating me as if i was the suspect, as the criminal. the police took away his phone and locked him in the hot car for more than four hours, even refusing him access to a bathroom. the windows were closed. i kept telling them it's hot, can i stand outside, can i go back in the store? they wouldn't let me do anything. while he was locked in the car, police went into his store and took his entire surveillance system. but they didn't realise that abdullah had been recording too. i was scared to tell anybody i had any kind of footage. i was scared i would, you know, they would come after me or take it. i kept it a secret the whole time. i was scared that i even had it

on my phone until i went and talked tojoel porter, my lawyer. i immediately understood the significance, the importance of this footage. i did not trust local law enforcement with this footage. i did not want it to be tampered with, i did not want it to be destroyed. i felt like i had an obligation to release it to the public. footage from the night lit a fire under a community enraged about police killing another black man. joel porter is acting on behalf abdullah in a suit against the police. they illegally detained him, placed him without justification in the back of a police car, they prevented him from contacting his

attorney, confiscated his surveillance equipment. they would not allow him to go to the bathroom. the police behaviour towards mr muflahi was despicable. i think that their actions were intended to intimidate him. two other witnesses were also detained by the police that night. they have never come forward, and despite a federal investigation into the shooting, no officers have ever been charged. baton rouge police department told the bbc that while they couldn't comment on mr muflahi's case due to ongoing civil action, "significant advancements" have been made in training and policy. last year, the officer who shot alton sterling agreed to leave the force.

i wanted to find out how often witnesses refuse to come forward, and why. there are no official figures, but i have spoken to lawyers representing victims across the country, and they have all told me that the problem is widespread. lee merritt is a lawyer acting on some of the most prominent civil rights cases in america, including that of george floyd. we live in the deadliest police culture in the modern world. there is no nation that kills and incarcerates so many of its citizens, and we see violence and incarceration as a response to holding police officers officers accountable. so you yourself as a civil rights lawyer, you and your team finds it difficult to get witnesses to come out and speak? it is extremely difficult to get the community to participate in holding officers accountable when they know there are very few protections to keep them from receiving repercussions.

although it is rare to find people willing to speak out, one man in baton rouge has made it his mission to protect the community by keeping an eye on the police. radio chatter. i just listen to it just in case i pick something up, you know. arthur reed, better known as silky slim, is a community activist. he listens on police scanners for incidents which might turn deadly. i listen to it all day, as much as i can. i think, late at night, um, 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, i listen for that, that one call. let's see what we can get. he and a small team go out each night to film responses to 911 calls in the area.

in the last five years, they have caught two police killings on camera, and the aftermath of a third. but it can be risky. i get out of my car, i take my camera and i hold it up and i started filming. and the police draws his gun and says "what is that you got pointed at me?" i said, "this is my camera and it is not pointed at you." "i can't tell from here, put your hands up!". so i could have lost my life then and there. and he knew that it was a phone, but he also knew that he could have shot and said that he thought it was a gun and ijust would have been dead. move back. it's a threat that silky is uniquely placed to handle. bleep before he turned his life around, silky was involved in gangs, drugs and serious crime. but since he started filming, silky says he now gets more attention from police, regularly facing traffic stops,

searches and fines. i get stopped more, i get harassed more now than when i was a gang leader. right now, anywhere they see me, they figure, oh, we gonna stop him. they make their threats, "we just want you to know, "we can catch you at any time." baton rouge police department told the bbc that they are committed to building trust and legitimacy in the community, and they are actively listening to residents. reporter: the seventh consecutive day of protests against police brutality in new york city... witnessing the killing of any human being is harrowing. it is even worse when it is a loved one. but when the killers are law enforcement officers, seeking accountability can have serious consequences. more common than people

understand is the threat of incarceration. that if you speak out on this case, it is going to cause us to look at your taxes, or look at, you know, your last dui warrant or any number of things where we allow the state to. ..criminalise witnesses. and there's no protection. criminalisation is just whatjessica clouatre says is happening to her, since she witnessed the killing of her boyfriend, josef richardson. injuly last year, they were living in a motel in port allen, next door to baton rouge. it was just a small room, we were actually waiting on our apartment so we were just staying there until the 1st. unknown to them, josef was being watched by the sheriff's office.

i was laying in the bed watching a video, and josef had just got out of the shower, standing by the bathroom mirror, and all of a sudden i heard "west baton rouge "sheriff's office, put your hands up," so i immediately turned up and sat up in bed and put my hands up, and made eye contact with the officer, and joe turned around and he walked up a little bit, hejust walked up like an inch and put his hands up, and one of the officers immediately grabbed josef. the officer grabbed joe's hand and he bent it really, really hard when he was taking him down, and i seejoe go to the ground. i see them standing over joe, and the gun go off at that time, and... hold on. and then, um, soon as the gun

goes off onjoe... one was coming at me with the gun in my face, and he immediately grabbed me, and he took me out of the room. i didn't know what to feel. i was scared, i was terrified, and what did ijust see? you know, what did i witness? i just thought it was going to be my last day too as well, you know? josef had been shot in the back of the neck. three internal investigations following his killing ruled that the officer had acted lawfully. they said there was resistance after a struggle, as well as a suspected gun. butjosef‘s family are taking civil action against the sheriff's office for wrongful death.

so we have an unarmed black man, half naked, killed in a motel room. jessica said he was in the process of complying, the process of getting on his knees and putting his hands up behind the head. if you were to do that, if i were to get out this chair, get on my knees, and begin to comply like that, which part of my body is exposed? it would be this point right here. which shows that they are lying about the events. the sheriff's department of west baton rouge say that they conducted the raid because josef was dealing drugs from the room. the report says they found marijuana, methamphetamines, cocaine and two digital scales. no gun was ever found. jessica, after being a witness to this, she was arrested. she was charged with the drugs that were found in the room, even though based on their own investigation intojosef, that he was the alleged target

of this investigation, but they threw everything that was in there on her. jessica spent four days in custody and was charged with possession with intent to supply the drugs found. you know, ijust witnessed my boyfriend's death and murder, and i was like... like, what am i here for? you know, like, what did i do? you are the criminal. jessica is campaigning to get justice forjosef. but the charges have left her in limbo. what kind of life can i have with these kind of charges on me? i can't go to get a good job, i can't go to work, it is not good for those kind of charges to be on you. jessica also feels she is being targeted on the streets.

just weeks after the killing, police stopped her while she was being driven home. she is covering herface because she is worried the police will recognise her. we were actually right here. where the black car is. the driver immediately pulled over and a police officer rushed to the side of the car that i was on, and opened up the door, and he said that he was pulling us over because of the taillight, but it didn't make sense that he ran on my side of the door instead of the driver side. things then became more serious. i went to go get my cigarettes out of the car and then the officer holded up a white bag with a white substance in it, a small white bag, and he asked me, was that for me? and i said no. if it ain't yours...

it's hers. inaudible. jessica says she doesn't know who the drugs belonged to, but the driver eventually took responsibility. she was let go. as i was walking away, the officer looked at me and he said "jessica," he said, "the only reason why you're not "going to jail with me today is because he took full "responsibility for the drugs that were found in the car." why would he tell me something like that? i think they were trying to take me down because of the crime they committed. since being arrested, jessica says she sees the police everywhere. every time i go in port allen, you would see the police. sometimes they'll end up popping up to, like, three different locations where i was at. and so that is what really made me say that, you know, i have to really be careful. you know, ijust don't feel safe anymore.

jessica will plead not guilty to the drugs charges next month. she is suing the police for false arrest and intimidation. josef‘s family are also suing for wrongful death. west baton rouge sheriff's office says they could not comment because of the ongoing litigation. oh, man. even children can be treated as criminals rather than witnesses of police brutality. just outside new orleans, in march this year, 14—year—old tre'mall, on the right, and 16—year—old nijel, had grabbed a lift to a family party, unaware that car had been stolen. two cop cars up behind us they turned on the sirens, they turned around, and started going down the street.

deputies from the jefferson parish sheriff's office gave chase before the car suddenly stopped. next thing you know, the tyres are flat. the driver got out and everyone else got out and the driver was like, "just run." the driver disappeared into the night, while nijel hid under a shed. but tre'mall was too slow, and was caught. i see tre'mall on the ground, and the police told him to get on the ground, he got on the ground. one had his knee on my back, and on my arms, and they were like, "where your friend at, where he at, where he at?" i'm like, i don't know, i don't know! and that's when, after that, everything kinda went black. next thing you know i heard a gunshot, boom, and i heard tre'mall scream, scream for his life. nijel was the only witness to the shooting. scared for his life, the 16—year—old called out to surrender. he says the police beat him up.

and theyjust dragged me from under there, and the next thing you knew ijust pick my head up and i see a big old boot, a big old boot just came into my eye. tre'mall survived, but the boys were arrested. it was left to the hospital to tell tre'mall‘s mum about the shooting. when she arrived, officers prevented herfrom seeing her son. there was a deputy and there was a detective there. not once did either the detective or the deputy open their mouth and say "well, ms mcgee, this "is what happened." they allowed me to leave the hospital assuming my child just got shot on the streets by anybody. it took three months for the sheriff to even confirm one of his deputies had indeed shot her son. six months on, she is still waiting for answers.

but despite the risks, tiffany is determined to speak out. they don't want me to keep talking. they didn't expect me to talk in the first place, they didn't expect me to ask no questions. theyjust expected for me to sit back and say oh well, to sit back and say, oh, well, another black kid get shot. no, this ends today. and it's going to end with me. jefferson parish sheriff's office did not respond to our requests for comment. public opinion about policing in america does seem to be shifting in the wake of george floyd's death. i put it to lee merritt that in the context of people being killed, witness tampering might seem less pressing. i think it is a huge deal, because it's how they get away with the murder.

right? we put law enforcement officers on a pedestal, these righteous warriors that somehow have to kill people sometimes to protect us all. that narrative is simply not not true, it has been exposed now since the murder of george floyd and the uprising you have seen come out of it. whatever the impact of those protests, until more witnesses feel confident speaking out against police, many more deaths are likely to go unchallenged. hello there. over the weekend we have seen sunnier skies and lighter

winds across the western side of the uk. for eastern areas, particularly here in eastern england and here london, but the cloud has been producing some rain and it has felt a lot colder than it should do at this time of year. this is a flavour of what is to come over the week ahead and this theme will be pretty consistent across the uk. it will be near normal temperatures for the start of the week and then from wednesday onwards it gets cooler and then more unsettled, much wetter and windier weather to come. at the moment, though, we have still got that northerly wind and it is stronger across the south—east of the uk, closer to that area of low pressure, so some windy weather for east anglia and the south—east for a while, although the winds ease during the afternoon. still a lot of cloud for the eastern side of england, although a drier day than it was on saturday, and elsewhere there will be lots of sunshine around after a chilly start. it shouldn't feel too bad in the sunshine, may make 18 degrees cardiff and it won't feel as chilly in norwich as it has been over the last couple of days, where of course we have had some

flooding and a lot of rain. as we move into monday, we are looking at rain coming in from the atlantic. instead of a northerly wind, we will get atlantic wind, so it won't be as chilly. and we have still got a lot of cloud to clear away across the day across the eastern anglia and the south—east. here is the next weather front, though, bringing some prat patchy rain into western areas ahead of it and then behind that rain we get some sunshine. temperatures back up to around 17 or 18 degrees. so that is near normal for this time of year. that weather front then marches its way eastwards over night, not a great deal of rain on it, but itjust slows down and it slows down and comes to a halt, really, to a halt, really, across east anglia and the south—east of england. so here are a lot of cloud and may be some patchy rain from time to time through the day on tuesday, but away from here it looks like there will be a lot of dry weather, a slight ridging in the pressure pattern and there will be some sunshine around as well, this temperatures up to 16 or 17 degrees at best. then we head into wednesday, and this is where we start to see the weather changing. that is because we have got an area of low

pressure coming in from the atlantic strengthening the winds and these weather fronts look much more active. for many eastern areas it may well start dry and once with start dry on wednesday with some sunshine, but it will cloud over. we have got rain coming into western areas and it will slowly move north and eastwards. this rain could be heavier as well and some stronger winds, especially towards the south—west, but temperatures are still 16 or 17 degrees away from scotland and northern ireland. now, as we move into thursday that weather front moves through, but you are left with an area of low pressure around and that is going to be sitting with us for a little while, a suspect. a little while, i suspect. heading further north, it takes wetter weather in to northern england, scotland and perhaps for northern ireland. further south, it looks drier and there will be some sunshine, but some quite strong winds as well and just cooler air that we are seeing, temperatures back down to 12 or 15 temperatures back down to 12—15 degrees, which is lower than normal for this time of the year. that is because the position of the jet stream is changing. as for the high level wind flow, you can see it to the south of

the uk. it keeps us on the cooler side of the jet in the cooler air and with that sort of orientation of thejet stream in the dip there you find an area of low pressure that will drift northwards across the uk, but essentially dominate the weather into the outlook into the following weekend and perhaps into monday as well, so for the start of the new month. so it is essentially unsettled next weekend and rather cool as well because of the position of the jet stream. could be some heavy rain at times and some strong winds as well.

this is bbc news. us president donald trump is all set to announce his nomination for the us supreme court. it's widely expected the president — seeking to bolster a right—leaning court — will pick conservative federal judge amy coney barrett. she left her home with her family earlier she will replace liberal justice ruth bader ginsburg, who died last friday — the announcement will touch off a bitter senate fight to get trump's pick confirmed as november's presidential election looms. we'll bring the announcement live from the white house and have reaction and analysis to the developments.