UPDATED 5/12, 10:55 a.m. ET: An attorney and two members of Andrew Brown Jr.’s family have been shown the full police body camera footage—one silent dash camera video and five body cam tapes—of the 42-year-old’s death at the hands of law enforcement. Lawyer Chance Lynch explained the family saw that, as TMZ writes, “at all times Brown’s hands were visible and he did not pose a threat to law enforcement, but then after the first shot, he put his car in reverse to try to get away. Lynch says Brown was backing his car away from officers—insisting at no time was a cop behind the vehicle—but claims police kept firing shots at Brown’s car…too many to count.”
The family’s belief that Brown was unjustly murdered remains steadfast. “The video I seen last week is pretty much the same as what I seen today just a few more details,” said Khalil Ferebee, one of Brown’s sons, at a press conference on Tuesday. “He wasn’t in the wrong at all, what’s in the dark will come to the light.”
Lynch said at the conference, “We were able to see some critical footage that yields some truth and transparency to what we thought we would see from the beginning. … It was absolutely, unequivocally unjustified. Our legal team is more committed now to pursue justice...because what we saw today was unconstitutional and it was unjustifiable.”
See original story below.
Those close to Andrew Brown Jr. have a different account of the shooting that led to his death.
One member of Brown’s family—who requested to have their identity concealed—told CNN on Friday that Brown was trying to reverse his car and police “started shooting the front windshield.”
“And then he took off to go across the yard and they started shooting the back window of his car,” the relative said.
They also shared photographs with CNN that appear to show a Pasquotank County, North Carolina Sheriff Department truck in Andrew Brown Jr.’s driveway. There were also pictures of Brown’s car following the shooting that show at least one bullet hole in the vehicle’s front windshield.
“It’s extremely heartbreaking to have to watch and go through knowing it’s one person you can’t bring back,” the relative said.
Community leaders and family members are now calling on authorities to release body camera footage of the incident to determine which account of the events is true. A judge ruled on Wednesday that the family would be able to see the videos after they initially only got to see 20 seconds of the footage. It might take up to a month for the footage to become public evidence.
Police and District Attorney Andrew Womble maintained during Wednesday’s court hearing that officers opened fire during the April 21 incident after Brown’s car came in contact with police cruisers. This refutes claims made by Brown’s family as authorities state his following move was to once again ram the car into police vehicles.
“The next movement of the car is forward,” Womble said. “It is in direction of law enforcement and makes contact with law enforcement. It is then and only then that you hear shots.”
The Pasquotank County sheriff said on Thursday that the additional four officers who were at the scene but did not use their weapons—Lt. Steven Judd, Sgt. Michael Swindell, Sgt. Kenneth Bishop, and Sgt. Joel Lunsford—have been reinstated to active duty. Sheriff Tommy Wooten said the decision came after carefully reviewing the body camera footage.
“It’s obvious that four of the deputies never fired their weapons and deserve to be reinstated to active duty,” he said. “More investigation is necessary into the three deputies who did fire their weapons and they will remain on administrative leave.”
Investigator Daniel Meads, Deputy Sheriff II Robert Morgan, and Cpl. Aaron Lewellyn are still on leave.
