The other day Paramount Network cancelled the long-running law-enforcement reality series “Cops,” while at the same time A&E pulled its biggest hit “Live P.D.” from its schedule. At the time A&E said the pulling its show “out of respect for the families of George Floyd and others who have lost their lives”.
Shortly after came the news that “Live P.D.” filmed a 2019 in-custody death of a black man, Javier Ambler, last year in Texas and that the footage had been destroyed and can no longer be turned over to Austin investigators reports USA Today.
In the wake of that, A&E has cancelled the series. They also confirmed that “video of the tragic death of Javier Ambler was captured by body cams worn on the officers involved as well by the producers of Live PD who were riding with certain officers involved.” Ambler, who had been arrested in connection to a traffic violation, can reportedly be seen being tased multiple times and repeatedly stating “I can’t breathe” and “please save me” before dying.
Now, a day after the cancellation, host and executive producer Dan Abrams is speaking out, saying (via Deadline) that the series has a “long standing policy to only keep footage for a few weeks absent a specific legal request to retain it”.
Ambler’s death never aired on the series because “it involved a fatality and A&E standards and practices didn’t permit us to show a fatality on the show.” Abrams adds: “the reason for this policy was so that we did not become an arm of law enforcement attempting to use Live P.D. videos to prosecute citizens seen on the footage.”
Abrams closes out saying he’s “frustrated and sad” as he truly believed in the show’s mission to provide transparency in policing.
