Police
Andrew Brown Jr. was unarmed and fleeing when fatally shot by North Carolina police, family says
Andrew Brown Jr. was shot and killed by an Elizabeth City, North Carolina police officer on Wednesday as he was fleeing police, his family says.
Andrew Brown Jr , a Black man who was fatally shot by North Carolina police was unarmed, his family attorney says.
Brown Jr, 42, was shot and killed in Elizabeth City, North Carolina on April 21 when authorities attempted to serve an arrest warrant.
Harry Daniels, the Brown family’s attorney, says witness accounts paint a picture of an “unlawful, unjustified killing” in which multiple law enforcement officers shot as Brown fled the scene in a vehicle.
“To my understanding, there is body camera footage to this incident, and it has not been released. A lot of speculation is going on — we’re asking for answers, accountability and transparency,” Daniels said.
What Happened To Andrew Brown?
Police tried to execute a search warrant
The deputies were serving an arrest warrant for felony drug charges at Brown’s rental home when Andrew Brown Jr. was fatally shot, according to Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office.
According to a witness, Brown was trying to drive away when the shooting happened.
Authorities said officers from another agency and the local version of a SWAT team were involved because “Mr. Brown was a convicted felon with a history of resisting arrest.”
The circumstances led police to believe there was a “high risk of danger” according to their training, authorities said.
Demetria Williams, Brown’s neighbor, told the Associated Press she ran outside after hearing a gunshot and then saw the deputy firing multiple times at Brown. She also said the car skidded from Brown’s yard and hit a tree.
“When they opened the door, he was already dead,” Williams said. “He was slumped over.” She said officers attempted chest compressions on Brown.
Authorities removed a car from the scene that appeared to have multiple bullet holes and a broken rear windshield, the Associated Press reported.
Andrew Brown Police Shooting Video Footage
Initially, authorities did not release body cam video of the incident.
In North Carolina, a judge generally has to approve release of police video. Daniels told USA Today he will file a motion Friday (April 23) for the footage to be released.
The family was finally able to see a 20 second blurred version of the video, but the Brown’s family said that wasn’t enough.
Based on what they were allowed to see already, Brown’s family has said the police appeared to lack a justification for using deadly force.
“There was no time in the 20 seconds that we saw where he was threatening the officers in any kind of way,” Chantel Cherry-Lassiter, an attorney, said at a press conference after watching the video, the Associated Press reported.
Pasquotank County Attorney R. Michael Cox released a statement shortly after the family attorneys’ press conference.
He says the blurring of faces “when necessary to protect an active internal investigation” is a statute under North Carolina law, according to WAVY.
Andrew Brown’s Autopsy
Brown Jr’s death certificate obtained by CNN, says his death was a result of “penetrating gunshot wound of the head” and died within “minutes” of being shot.
The certificate categorizes his death as a homicide, saying Brown was “shot by others.”
Independent autopsy
An independent autopsy of Andrew Brown says he was shot once in the back of the head, the family said.
Brown was shot five times in all, including four times in his right arm.
Deputies have resigned and seven are on leave
Three deputies have resigned and seven are on leave after an emergency radio traffic of the incident said Brown was shot in the back.
The Pasquotank County deputy involved in the shooting is on administrative leave.
The names of the deputies have not been released.
No Charges Against Deputies
Elizabeth City, North Carolina, District Attorney Andrew Womble said at a news conference that the three deputies who opened fire on Brown, a father of seven, were justified in their use of deadly force because Brown drove his vehicle toward them and allegedly made contact with one deputy twice before officers fired their weapons.
Investigation And FBI Probe
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation has taken over the probe into the shooting, officials said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed that it also will investigate the killing of Andrew Brown Jr.
Family Files $30M Lawsuit
In the latest update to the case, Andrew Brown’s family filed a $30M civil rights lawsuit in July.
The lawsuit in North Carolina was filed in a U.S. District Court by Brown’s paternal aunt, Lillie Brown Clark, who is the administrator for his estate.
The suit says the 42-year-old Brown was the father of seven children.
Defendants include Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten II and several deputies. Maj. Aaron Wallio told The Associated Press in an email that Wooten’s office “has no comments on the lawsuit.”
Police
Family of Black girls handcuffed by Colorado police, held at gunpoint reach $1.9 million settlement
The family of four Black girls who were wrongfully detained and held at gunpoint by Aurora, CO police have reached a settlement with the city.
Family of Black girls held at gunpoint reach settlement
Finalized on Monday, the families will collectively receive $1.9 million.
The settlement marks the latest payout the City of Aurora has been forced to make over officers’ excessive use of force.
In 2021, the city paid a $15 million settlement to Elijah McClain’s family, a 23-year-old Black man who died in 2019 after officers put him in a chokehold and paramedics injected him with ketamine.
The incident
In August 2020, four Black girls, ages 6, 12, 14 and 17, were held face down on the ground and put in handcuffs in a nail salon parking lot, crying and screaming, as officers towered over them.
Brittney Gilliam, the mother of the 6-year-old, was driving that Sunday morning with her relatives, because they were going to get their nails done together.
Wrongfully detained
But before they made it in the salon, Gilliam was detained after officers mistakenly thought she was driving a stolen S.U.V.
Police had mistakenly believed Gilliam was driving a stolen car.
And a simple second step police failed to take, resulted in the family being wrongfully detained.
Officers didn’t type in the plate number in a second database to show them the make of the vehicle. If they had, authorities said, the officers would have realized that the plate number was registered to a motorcycle in Montana.
Black girls and mother held at gunpoint traumatized
Dozens of bystanders watched the ordeal unfold, and video footage of the incident went viral, sparking protests over racial injustice, citing excessive force on Black Americans.
After the video went viral, Aurora police had apologized for their grave mistake, but the emotional trauma had already happened.
The Aurora Police Department said its officers are trained to draw their weapons before telling passengers to exit the vehicle and ordering them to lie on the ground, The Post reported.
Officers who held Black girls at gunpoint
One of the two officers who drew their guns and handcuffed members of the family was initially suspended.
However, he and the other officer that pulled his firearm remain on the police force, the New York Times reports.
To date, no officers were fired or charged in connection with the incident.
Police
2023 saw a record year of killings by police in U.S.
The number of people killed by police in the United States reached a new high in 2023, according to new research.
The number of people killed by police in the United States reached a new high in 2023, according to new research.
2023 police killings increased dramatically
Mapping Police Violence, a non-profit research group, dockets deaths at the hands of police officers. Last year, it recorded the highest number of killings since its national tracking began in 2013.
Statistics explained
The data reported that police officers killed 1,329 people in 2023, representing nearly a 19-percent increase over the 11-year span.
Nearly 90% of those killed were fatally shot, according to Abdul Nasser Rad, managing director of research and data at Campaign Zero, who runs Mapping Police Violence.
There were only 14 days without a police killing last year and on average, law enforcement officers killed someone every 6.6 hours, according to the report.
Meanwhile last year, the number of people killed by gunfire and officers killed in the line of duty declined, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. There was an increase in the number of police officers shot.
The newly released data suggests a grim reality and a systemic crisis, with an average of about three people killed by officers each day, with slight increases in recent years. In 2022, 1,250 were killed by police.
The data also reported that Black people were about 2.8 times more likely to be killed by officers than their white counterparts between 2013 and 2023.
Recording police misconduct
For decades, many Americans have suffered various forms of brutality and injustice at the hands of “bad” law enforcement officers.
When a civilian puts in a complaint against the officer only a small percent of complaints result in the officer being disciplined —partly because the accusations are hidden.
Half of the battle is knowing who the “bad” law enforcement are and proper action being taken.
Missin Peace, a national police misconduct database that collects formal civilian complaints against law enforcement, helps fill that void.
In 2022, we had a conversation with the creators, who urged those who filed a complaint against an officer, to upload it on their website as well.
While there is still much work to do, it’s a start.
Police
14-year-old boy with autism tased by police in what family says was case of mistaken identity
An Illinois family is demanding answers after their 14-year-old autistic son was tased by police in what they maintain was a case of mistaken identity.
An Illinois family is demanding answers after their 14-year-old autistic son was tased by police in what they maintain was a case of mistaken identity.
14-year-old autistic boy tased by police
In an interview with WLS Chicago, the family says that the teen, Avarius Thompson, suffered injuries, including a fractured hip, during an encounter with Dolton police on the morning of Nov.
Police’s incident report
According to the Dolton Police Department’s incident report, Dolton police were assisting police in the nearby neighborhood of Riverdale in the search for four Black males who had fled from a crashed, stolen vehicle, two of whom were allegedly carrying rifles and a handgun.
Dolton officers spotted two subjects, one of whom matched the description of a suspect sought in the incident, in a nearby backyard and pursued them, according to the incident report.
An officer pursuing Avarius ordered the teen to stop before tasing him, according to the incident report.
The incident was captured on the officer’s body-camera footage.
“Hands up! Hands up!” a Dolton police officer can be heard yelling in the body-camera footage as he runs toward Avarius with his Taser extended. After the teen jumps over a fence, the officer deploys the taser, the footage shows.
Avarius attempts to get up when the officer deploys his Taser again a few seconds later, the footage shows.
“Don’t move. Don’t move,” the officer says. “You move, you’re going to get some more.”
Avarius’ father, Eric Thompson, told WLS that the footage was “frightening.”
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