D.A.’s conclusion that Andrew Brown’s killing was ‘justified’ is ‘slap in the face,’ lawyers say
The family of Andrew Brown, Jr. is urging the U.S. Justice Department to “intervene immediately” in the investigation into the fatal shooting of the Black 42-year-old.
Shortly after Pasquotank County district attorney Andrew Womble said in a press conference Tuesday that the killing of Brown was “tragic” but “justified,” lawyers for the family released a statement slamming the D.A.’s conclusions.
“Andrew Brown Jr., his grieving family, and this community deserve answers. And they received anything but from D.A. Womble’s attempt to whitewash this unjustified killing. To say this shooting was justified, despite the known facts, is both an insult and a slap in the face to Andrew’s family, the Elizabeth City community, and to rational people everywhere,” the statement read in part.
On Tuesday, Womble announced that, “After reviewing the investigation conducted by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Brown’s death, while tragic, was justified because Mr Brown’s actions caused three deputies with the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s office to reasonably believe it was necessary to use deadly force to protect themselves and others.”
Brown, a 42-year-old father of seven, lost control of his car on April 21 in Elizabeth City, N.C. after cops tried to serve him with an arrest warrant on felony drug charges. He was killed just a day after a jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty in the death of George Floyd.
“I find that the facts of this case clearly illustrate the officers who used deadly force on Andrew Brown Jr. did so reasonably and only when a violent felon used a deadly weapon to put their lives in danger,” Womble said, referring to Brown’s car.
Body camera video of the incident, portions of which were played during the news conference, shows deputies arriving at the scene with their guns drawn and yelling orders at Brown, who drove his car attempting to leave the area.
“Not only was the car moving away from officers, but four of them did not fire their weapons — clearly they did not feel that their lives were endangered,” the statement released by the family’s attorneys read.
“And the bottom line is that Andrew was killed by a shot to the back of the head. Interestingly, none of these issues were appropriately addressed in today’s press conference,” the lawyers added.
Brown’s family is also demanding the court to release the full video and the State Bureau of Investigation report, which “will help shed some much needed daylight on this case and bring a small measure of justice to this family and this community.”
“Because we certainly got neither transparency nor justice today. We request that the Federal Department of Justice intervene immediately,” the statement read.
