Andrew Brown Jr.'s Family Says Police Shooting Was 'Unequivocally Unjustified' After Viewing Body Cam Footage
The family of Andrew Brown Jr., who was fatally shot in his car by sheriff’s deputies in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, have finally seen the footage of the killing. They are calling Brown’s death "unequivocally unjustified."
Although the footage will not be released to the public, according to USA Today, the body cam footage was shown to the family by the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office after a court order.
Bakari Sellers, one of the family's attorneys, said during a press conference after viewing the footage, “What we saw on that video was an unjustified killing. What we saw on that video is something that we believe also denotes further investigation and does have some criminal liability."
According to The Daily Beast, Chance Lynch, another of the Brown family lawyers stated, “At no point did we see Mr. Brown pose a threat to the law enforcement that was there. It was absolutely and unequivocally unjustified.”
Lynch also added, “At no point did we ever see any police officer behind his vehicle. At no point did we ever see Mr. Brown make contact with law enforcement. We did not see any actions on Mr. Brown’s part that he made contact with them or tried to go in their direction. In fact, he did the opposite. While there was a group of law enforcement in front of him, he went in the opposite direction.”
Brown was shot and killed by deputies while they executed a search warrant last Wednesday (April 21). Witnesses say Brown was driving away at the time and deputies fired several rounds, killing him.
Seven deputies were placed on administrative leave and three others resigned due to what . The three who left their jobs were not directly involved in the shooting, says Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten, according to WAVY.
Family attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter told reporters last week that shots were heard from the instant the clip started with Brown's car in his driveway and his hands on the steering wheel.
Cherry-Lassiter said Brown did not try to back away until after deputies ran up to his car and began shooting, and he did not pose a threat to deputies. "He finally decides to try to get away and he backs out, not toward officers at all," Cherry-Lassiter said.
Brown was shot five times, including in the back of the head, according to an independent autopsy commissioned by his family.
