Hearing begins to decide on release of body camera footage in death of Andrew Brown
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Superior Court Judge Jeff Foster is deciding Wednesday morning whether to release body camera footage of the shooting and killing of Andrew Brown Jr. by Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies last week.
The judge will hear arguments from lawyers for county officials and media, who petitioned for the release of the footage, at the Pasquotank County Courthouse.
Brown, 42, was shot and killed in his car outside his home in Elizabeth City a week ago as deputies were serving search and arrest warrants related to felony drug charges.
It happened less than 24 hours after Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was convicted of the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man.
The shooting has spurred nightly protests in Elizabeth City, where hundreds of people have demanded footage of the incident be made public.
Andrew Brown’s family and its lawyers and supporters arrived at the courthouse at 9:45, and lined up outside under the cover of old trees. Brown’s 92-year-old grandmother, Lydia Brown, was the first to enter the courthouse, pushed on a wheelchair.
A crowd of approximately 50 media members, meanwhile, gathered outside — some waiting to gain entry themselves. The hearing was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., but was delayed.
The members of the media remained outside as the hearing began.
‘An execution,’ family’s lawyers say
Chantel Cherry-Lassiter, an Elizabeth City attorney representing Brown’s family, saw a 20-second snippet of the video on Monday with Brown’s son Khalil Ferebee and Ferebee’s mother. Lassiter said the video showed Brown was shot multiple times while he sat in his vehicle with his hands on the steering wheel.
They called the shooting “an execution.”
At a news conference Tuesday, Ferebee said the private autopsy commissioned by the family and attorneys confirmed that. That autopsy showed Brown was shot 5 times, with a fatal bullet wound to the back of his head.
The body-worn camera footage has not yet been released publicly, despite pressure from lawmakers, civil rights leaders and hundreds of protesters. They’re also asking officials to release footage from a street camera near Brown’s house and a dash camera in a police van.
North Carolina law does not allow law enforcement agencies to release officers’ body camera footage, that’s up to a judge, which is why there was a court hearing.
On Tuesday, Elizabeth City shared a city-owned video that shows several deputies in tactical gear arriving at Brown’s home in the back of a pickup truck. That footage camera, which is mounted on a utility pole along Brown’s street,
The camera, which is mounted on a utility pole along Brown’s street, captures the moments before Brown was shot and killed.
The black pickup truck turns towards the driveway and deputies jump out of the truck bed, yelling “Get your hands up!” the video shows.
After seeing that footage, attorneys for Brown’s family said in a statement Brown was “brought down by an inflamed modern-day lynch mob.”
“The footage shows an eerie resemblance to what we saw in Ahmaud Arbery’s modern-day lynching, except these were no vigilantes — these murderers were on the clock as law enforcement,” the statement said.
They hope the body camera footage will help hold the officers responsible for Brown’s death accountable.
