Videos of Andrew Brown Jr. Shooting Cast Doubt on Police Use of Force

[SummerMadness]

Videos of Andrew Brown Jr. Shooting Cast Doubt on Police Use of Force

A New York Times review of bodycam footage showing the fatal police shooting of Andrew Brown Jr. in April raises questions about whether officers were in imminent danger when they used lethal force as he drove away to avoid arrest.

The officers have not been charged in the shooting. R. Andrew Womble, the district attorney for North Carolina’s First Judicial District, determined that they were justified in their actions because Mr. Brown was using his car as a “deadly weapon.” He said police body-camera videos “clearly illustrate the officers who used deadly force on Andrew Brown Jr. did so reasonably” and only when their lives were in danger.

A review of slowed-down bodycam footage by The Times shows that 13 of the 14 gunshots — including the fatal one — were fired as Mr. Brown was driving away from officers, not at them. The footage was presented by the district attorney at a press conference and is from four officers’ cameras.

The officers’ actions may have violated their department’s guidelines. The Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office’s use-of-force policy states that shooting at a moving vehicle is “rarely effective,” and that officers should fire at a moving vehicle only “when the deputy reasonably believes there are no other reasonable means available to avert the imminent threat of the vehicle.”

 

[disciple Clint]

Videos of Andrew Brown Jr. Shooting Cast Doubt on Police Use of Force

The event did not happen in slow motion and the officers did not have the benefit of being able to replay the video over and over and slowing it down. They had to make a decision and there was no doubt that the car was driving directly at two police officers after having backed up towards other officers. This in no way was an innocent victim and in no way was he executed as the family attorney tried to assert before the public saw the video that shows the truth. I doubt that the attorneys will be getting a large cash settlement out of this case.

 

[Pommer]

They had to make a decision and there was no doubt that the car was driving directly at two police officers after having backed up towards other officers.

It would appear that the officers “decided wrongly”.

 

[disciple Clint]

It would appear that the officers “decided wrongly”.

Come on man. You are trying to fight the facts.

 

[SummerMadness]

Police have a dangerous ‘dead or alive’ mentality. Andrew Brown Jr. is dead because of it.

Sometimes good policing means letting a suspect escape. When officers instead pursue a fleeing suspect and end up killing him, prosecutors can face a difficult question: Was the killing justified? Yet another district attorney has answered this question the wrong way — revealing once again how Black lives not mattering is embedded in routine practices by police and prosecutors.

Seven law enforcement officers went to Andrew Brown Jr.’s home in Elizabeth City, N.C., to execute arrest and search warrants for nonviolent drug crimes. The cops found Brown in his car; 44 seconds later, they shot him dead — in the back of the head.

Womble has objected to the release of all the body cam videos, a move that does not inspire confidence in his fairness. Cherry-picking what evidence the public can see is the opposite of transparency.

Womble claimed the body cam video showed Brown steering his car toward the officers, some of the reporters who viewed it said the video depicted Brown moving the car in a way to avoid hitting anybody.

Womble rejected the common sense calls from Brown’s family and the North Carolina governor to recuse himself, because he works with the same officers who he had to decide whether to prosecute.

What’s clear is that this death did not need to happen. Two officers positioned themselves in front of Brown’s car, and then used their vulnerability as an excuse to kill him. Womble claimed the police were “duty-bound to stand their ground, carry through on the performance of their duties and take Andrew Brown into custody.” This “dead or alive” mentality may be the law of old western movies, but the Constitution does not support it.

Just because someone resists arrest or tries to escape police custody does not entitle the police to kill. The law requires police act reasonably, in light of all the circumstances, including the crime the person is suspected of, and the danger he poses.

The reasonable thing, in this case, would be for the cops to get out of the way and let Brown escape. They could have arrested him another time; they knew where he lived and what his car looked like. Brown was wanted for nonviolent drug offenses, hardly a crime that justifies killing a suspect to prevent him from escaping.

If you don’t believe me, believe the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office manual, which advises, “Shots fired at or from a moving vehicle involve additional considerations and risks now rarely effective. When feasible, deputies should take reasonable steps to move out of the path when approaching a vehicle instead of discharging a firearm at the vehicle or any of its occupants.”

 

[disciple Clint]

Police have a dangerous ‘dead or alive’ mentality. Andrew Brown Jr. is dead because of it.

Just no end to the propaganda and narrative attempts. The facts in this case are clear, the police were in danger they protected themselves, we do not have an innocent victim here and no amount of attempting to twist the facts is going to change that fact.