One week after a fatal police shooting of a man in Cambridge, city leaders and at least one member of his family are calling for the release of body-camera footage of the incident — even before a judicial inquest into what happened that night is complete.
The calls come after police fatally shot 64-year-old William Woodworth on a side street in Cambridge’s Central Square last Friday night after authorities say he pointed a gun at police.
In a progressive city where the public had clamored for a body-camera program after a fatal police shooting three years ago, believing it would provide more clear-cut answers if another person were to be killed by a police officer, residents are now learning how long it can take to get that transparency even when there were cameras rolling as shots were fired.
“While I believe in the inquest process, I have advocated for quicker release of Body Worn Camera footage before the conclusion of the full process,” Yi-An Huang, Cambridge’s city manager, said in a statement Thursday. “I believe that the timely release of Body Worn Camera footage is critical to public trust.”
Potentially gruesome body-camera footage may be difficult to watch, and does not always capture every crucial moment of tense police interactions, particularly ones that unfold at close range.
But letting the public see what transpired may be valuable, said Leslie Woodworth, who is one of the victim’s sisters.
“Let’s be as transparent as we can all be. Sure, release the footage. People want to know,” Woodworth, who lives in Texas, said in an interview.
Woodworth said she had also not been shown any body-camera footage of the incident yet and stressed that she is not speaking for his entire family.
“I want this to move along as fast as possible,” she said. “I can barely work. I can’t think. I can’t focus. This sucks. Get this over with.”
Authorities have said an investigation into her brother’s death involves a review of video recorded by body cameras worn by officers who were there the night of the fatal police shooting.
But the district attorney’s office said it has requested a judicial inquest into whether the shooting was justified, and that a judge assigned to the case issued a protective order barring the city from releasing any videos related to it until that process is over.
“This office follows judicial orders in all cases at all times,” the office said in a statement.
Some officials in Cambridge are already getting impatient amid fears that processes like these can drag on for months, and that residents will be left in the meantime to rely on the word of police alone.
“There is a public interest here,” said Sumbul Siddiqui, a city councilor and the city’s mayor, who is also calling for the release of the footage. “These are hard issues, and I get that, but I think we’re undermining the whole effort around greater transparency.”
Cambridge’s body-camera program launched just last year, after the 2023 fatal police shooting of college student Sayed Faisal led to outrage and protests, and prompted the city to invest in the devices. Many in the city believe the turmoil was fueled by a lack of footage of the moments leading up to Faisal’s death, which left unanswered questions about how police might have responded differently. A nine-month-long inquest in that case found the police shooting was justified.
Now some who backed the body-camera program are trying to avoid a repeat.
“The inquest can take a while, and I think if you don’t provide people with information, that void just gets filled with speculation and rumors,” said Marc McGovern, also a city councilor. “I don’t think that’s a healthy way to go.”
He said there is a balance to be struck between the desire for a thorough investigation and for quick resolution, but the public release of that footage doesn’t have to be at odds with that goal.
Body-camera footage has also been controversial in Boston, where an advocacy group has filed a lawsuit seeking the release of video evidence in a manslaughter case against a city police officer.
“Few governmental records implicate a greater public interest than body-worn camera footage documenting the fatal use of force by law enforcement officers,” Victoria S. Miranda, an attorney for Lawyers for Civil Rights, wrote in the suit.
The fact that footage exists of a high-profile Cambridge police incident and isn’t being shared also feels out of step with how quickly information — and footage of police activity in particular — travels these days, and how readily available it often is online, said Councilor Burhan Azeem.
“The internet has made it so that things move a lot faster, and everyone has cameras,” Azeem said. “The idea that you should wait months or years to understand what happened does not match the moment.”
For his part, Tim Flaherty, also a city councilor, said that he felt the footage “should be released immediately,” and that he didn’t believe there needed to be an inquest at all because there was already enough evidence the police acted appropriately given the circumstances.
Some city councilors have said they believe that footage of the incident should not be shown to the officers who were at the scene during the shooting so they can’t tailor their recollection of what happened to what is viewable on tape. But, they said, that shouldn’t delay release indefinitely.
“It’s my understanding those interviews have now taken place,” said Councilor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler. “The whole argument for having body cameras was to be able to answer critical questions in the aftermath of an incident like this — not months later.”
Still, not every official in Cambridge feels the same way: The city’s top police leader underscored what was beyond her control.
“We understand the public’s interest in this incident and share the City Manager’s desire for the timely release of Body Worn Camera footage,” acting police commissioner Pauline Wells said in a statement. “At this time, however, decisions regarding the release of evidence are outside the Department’s authority.”
Spencer Buell can be reached at spencer.buell@globe.com. Follow him @SpencerBuell.