A
makeshift
memorial
of lit
candles
sits
near
where
Black
suspect
Andrew
Brown
Jr. was
killed
by
sheriffs
last
week as
family
members
demand
more
camera
footage
of the
shooting
in
Elizabeth
City,
North
Carolina,
U.S.,
April
27,
2021.
(REUTERS/Jonathan
Drake) |
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Pasquotank
County
District
Attorney
Andrew
Womble
answers
questions
from
reporters
after
announcing
he will
not
charge
deputies
in the
April 21
fatal
shooting
of
Andrew
Brown
Jr.
during a
news
conference
Tuesday,
May 18,
2021 at
the
Pasquotank
County
Public
Safety
building
in
Elizabeth
City,
N.C.
Womble
said he
would
not
release
bodycam
video of
the
confrontation
between
Brown, a
Black
man, and
the law
enforcement
officers,
but he
played
portions
of the
video
during
the news
conference
that
were
broadcast
by
multiple
news
outlets.
(Travis
Long/The
News &
Observer
via
AP)(Travis
Long) |
|
North
Carolina
prosecutor
says
police
were
justified
in
fatally
shooting
Andrew
Brown
By
Nathan
Layne,
Barbara
Goldberg
reuters.com
ELIZABETH
CITY, NC
- A
North
Carolina
prosecutor
will not
bring
criminal
charges
against
sheriff's
deputies
for the
fatal
shooting
of
Andrew
Brown, a
Black
man,
outside
his home
last
month,
saying
on
Tuesday
that the
killing
was
justified
because
Brown
endangered
their
lives by
driving
toward
them.
Pasquotank
County
District
Attorney
Andrew
Womble
said he
had
concluded
his
investigation
and
found no
wrongdoing
by the
deputies,
despite
calls
for
prosecution
by
lawyers
for
Brown's
family,
who
described
his
death as
an
execution.
Brown,
42, was
shot as
he
resisted
arrest
and
tried to
speed
off in
his car
during a
morning
raid at
his home
on April
21 in
Elizabeth
City, a
riverfront
community
where
just
over
half of
the
roughly
18,000
residents
are
Black.
"Mr.
Brown's
death
was
justified,"
Womble
told
reporters
at a
news
briefing
in which
he also
showed
video
taken
from the
body-worn
cameras
of the
Pasquotank
County
sheriff's
deputies
as they
tried to
arrest
him on
suspicion
of
selling
illegal
drugs.
Benjamin
Crump
and
other
lawyers
representing
Brown's
family,
in a
joint
statement,
decried
what
they
called "Womble's
attempt
to
whitewash
this
unjustified
killing,"
and
demanded
that a
North
Carolina
court
allow
the
release
of all
videos.
The
killing
captured
national
attention,
coming a
day
after
former
Minneapolis
police
officer
Derek
Chauvin
was
convicted
of
murdering
George
Floyd in
a highly
publicized
trial.
It
further
fueled
the
raging
debate
over
when
police
are
justified
in using
deadly
force in
an
arrest
and when
authorities
should
release
body-worn
camera
video to
the
public.
Citing
U.S.
Supreme
Court
precedent
on when
deadly
force is
justified,
Womble
said the
video
showed
the
deputies
behaving
as any
"reasonable
police
officer"
would
"when a
violent
felon
used a
deadly
weapon
to place
their
lives in
danger,"
describing
how
Brown
drove
his car
toward
them in
a
dangerous
way. The
officers
would
not face
criminal
charges,
he said.
"The
Constitution
simply
does not
require
police
to
gamble
with
their
lives in
the face
of a
serious
threat,"
Womble
said.
"They
could
not
simply
have let
him go
as has
been
suggested."
VIDEOS
OF
SHOOTING
Womble
said
deputies
arrived
that
morning
to find
Brown
sitting
in his
car,
talking
on the
phone.
They
surrounded
the car,
ordering
him to
show his
hands
and
attempting
to open
the car
door.
He
played
excerpts
of video
from the
deputies'
body-worn
cameras,
which he
said
showed
that
Brown
rapidly
backed
up,
pulling
a deputy
over the
car
hood.
A
makeshift
memorial
of lit
candles
sits
near
where
Black
suspect
Andrew
Brown
Jr. was
killed
by
sheriffs
last
week as
family
members
demand
more
camera
footage
of the
shooting
in
Elizabeth
City,
North
Carolina,
U.S.,
April
27,
2021.
REUTERS/Jonathan
Drake
Brown
continued
to
retreat
until
his path
was
blocked
by his
home,
and then
drove
forward
toward
the
officers.
The
officers
repeatedly
shouted
at him
to stop,
but he
ignored
their
commands
and
drove
toward
the same
deputy
who had
been
pulled
over the
hood.
Three of
the
deputies
began
firing
at the
car: one
shot
went
through
the
windshield,
and
another
five
entered
the
car's
trunk
and rear
window,
Womble
said.
Brown
suffered
two
gunshot
wounds:
a
non-lethal
shot to
the
shoulder
and a
fatal
shot to
the back
of his
head.
"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
told
reporters.
Womble
said
Brown
was
known to
officers
as
having a
long
history
of
arrests
and
convictions
dating
back to
1995,
including
assault
with a
deadly
weapon.
Before
heading
to
Brown's
home,
officers
were
told
that
Brown
had a
history
of
resisting
arrest
or
barricading
himself
against
police,
Womble
said.
A chunk
of
crystal
meth —
an
illegal
stimulant
— about
as big
as "a
50-cent
piece,"
was
found in
Brown's
car,
Womble
said. No
weapons
were
found on
Brown or
in the
car.
Lawyers
for
Brown's
family
had
previously
said a
20-second
portion
of the
video
they
were
allowed
to see
showed
he was
"executed"
by the
officers,
describing
how they
continued
shooting
at him
as he
drove
away
from
them. In
their
statement
on
Tuesday,
the
lawyers
said the
videos
showed
that the
officers
were not
in fear
of their
lives.
"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,"
they
said.
Kristie
Puckett-Williams
of the
North
Carolina
American
Civil
Liberties
Union
said the
decision
not to
charge
any of
the
officers
was
“business
as
usual”
in a
criminal
justice
system
skewed
against
non-white
people.
“Until
we have
radically
changed
the many
ways the
criminal
legal
system
harms
and
kills
Black
and
Brown
people,
justice
will
continue
to elude
its
victims,”
Puckett-Williams
said in
a
statement.
The
sheriff's
office
did not
respond
to a
request
for
comment.
The
three
deputies
who
opened
fire
were put
on
administrative
leave,
and it
was not
immediately
clear if
or when
they
would
return
to
regular
duties.
The
Federal
Bureau
of
Investigation
said in
April it
had
begun
investigating
whether
the
deputies
violated
Brown's
civil
rights.
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