Venus Williams Car Crash, Cops Won't Release Surveillance Video

The Venus Williams fatal car crash has gotten weird ... cops are refusing to give the widow of the man who was killed the surveillance video that captured the entire crash ... so claims the woman's legal team.

The video was shot from a security camera at a nearby gated community ... the same place Venus and her sister, Serena, live.

The footage is crucial because of the conflicting stories ... Venus says she had a green light and was traveling at only 5 MPH when she was blocked by traffic in the intersection. Linda Barson, the driver of the other car, claims Venus blew a red light and was speeding.

Barson's lawyers say they have repeatedly asked cops for a copy of the video or even just to view it. They've also filed a subpoena for the video, but they have been shut down -- although they say cops told them today, "Maybe next week."

The lawyers also asked the board at the gated community for a copy of the video but were told no. Lawyers are now in the process of attempting to subpoena the footage.

We're also told cops downloaded information from the black box in Barson's Hyundai, but did not do the same with Venus' SUV. In fact, Barson's lawyers say cops told them they tried to download the SUV's black box but were unable to and they told the tow yard they could release the vehicle to Venus ... as opposed to keeping it as evidence until they could figure out how to download the info.