Family of Andrew Brown Jr., 42-year-old Black man killed by police, files lawsuit against N.C. cops
The family of Andrew Brown Jr., the 42-year-old Black man killed by North Carolina police in April, filed a federal civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday.
The suit demands more than $30 million in damages, according to a copy obtained by Raleigh NBC affiliate WRAL. Members of the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office and the Dare County Sheriff’s Office are named as defendants.
Brown was fatally shot April 21 while inside his car near his home in Elizabeth City. His cause of death was a gunshot to the back of the head, autopsies confirmed. None of the several officers at Brown’s home that morning were charged with crimes.
“We believe that finally Andrew Brown can get justice because he did not get justice in life, and so far, he hasn’t even gotten justice in death,” Brown family attorney Bakari Sellers said at a press conference.
Snippets of body-camera footage of the shooting have been released, and more has been viewed by Brown’s family, but the full incident has not been viewed publicly.
The available footage shows several officers surrounding Brown’s vehicle with guns drawn before he backs up and then moves forward. At one point, he appears to graze one of the officers. Shortly after, the cops fire into the vehicle, killing Brown.
Brown’s family has disputed that he hit a cop with his car and demanded all body-cam video be released.
Police were at Brown’s house that morning to serve drug-related arrest and search warrants. The Brown family lawsuit filed Wednesday claims the search warrants were invalid because they lacked signatures.
