Bodycam footage shows cops approaching Andrew Brown Jr. with guns drawn
The fatal shooting of an unarmed Black motorist, “while tragic,” was justified because he hit a deputy with his car and nearly ran him over while ignoring commands to show his hands and get out of the vehicle, a North Carolina prosecutor said Tuesday.
Andrew Brown Jr. used his car as a “deadly weapon” and Pasquotank County deputies believed they needed to use deadly force, District Attorney Andrew Womble said, declaring the cops involved won’t face criminal charges.
“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,” Womble said.
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES
Womble says the first shots were fired when Brown started driving his car towards deputies. Shots were fired into the rear of the car when brown started driving towards unmarked sheriff's deputies @WAVY_News pic.twitter.com/SbCSBSowyS
— Brett Hall (@BrettHNews) May 18, 2021
Brown’s family immediately released a statement calling the decision “both an insult and a slap in the face.”
Brown, a 42-year-old father of seven, lost control of his car April 21 in Elizabeth City, N.C., after cops tried to serve him with an arrest warrant on felony drug charges. The slaying came 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.
Body camera video depicted a chaotic minute-long scene, but it was hard to discern a detailed sequence of events as it was played during the news conference. The video showed deputies arriving with their guns drawn and yelling orders at Brown, who tried to drive his car away.
According to WAVY TV, six deputies can be seen approaching the car.
Womble said the first shot at Brown’s car went through the front windshield, and that officers continued to shoot as he drove away.
An independent autopsy showed that Brown died from a fatal gunshot to the back of his head, and Brown’s family has called his death an “execution.” The state’s written autopsy hasn’t been released yet.
After Tuesday’s news conference, lawyers for Brown’s family released a statement not only condemning Womble’s finding, but calling for the release of the full video and urging the Department of Justice to “intervene immediately” in the investigation.
”Andrew Brown Jr., his grieving family, and this community deserve answers,” the lawyers wrote. “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. 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.”
“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,” they wrote.
”We demand that the court release the full video and state Bureau of Investigation report that 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 demanded.
Keith Rivers, president of Pasquotank County’s NAACP chapter, said he was frustrated and angry.
“Andrew Brown Jr. is the victim,” Rivers said. “It’s not a district attorney’s job to defend sheriff’s deputies. It is his job to get justice for the victim. It is the court’s job to decide whether or not it was reasonable or unreasonable.”
A judge has so far refused to release the video publicly because he didn’t want to harm an investigation by the state Bureau of Investigation.
The bureau issued a statement Tuesday noting it investigates the facts but “does not make any determinations as to whether criminal charges should be filed.” The statement said its investigative report isn’t a public record and won’t be released.
The FBI is conducting a civil rights probe of the shooting.
The three deputies who fired shots — Investigator Daniel Meads, Deputy Robert Morgan and Cpl. Aaron Lewellyn — have been on leave since it happened. The sheriff’s office said Morgan is Black, while Meads and Lewellyn are white. Womble said the deputies have no prior use-of-force complaints.
Two deputies fired nine shots from Glock handguns and the third fired five rounds from an AR-15 rifle, according to Womble, based on spent shell casings.
Four other deputies involved in serving the warrants were reinstated after the sheriff said it was clear they didn’t fire shots.
With News Wire Services
