Latest Updates on Andrew Brown Case: Body Camera Footage Released By Elizabeth City Police
Elizabeth City Attorney Andrew Womble said the sheriff's deputies who fatally shot Andrew Brown Jr., a 42-year-old Black man, in North Carolina will not face charges.
During a news conference Tuesday, Womble called the incident "tragic" but said that the officers were justified in their actions.
"I find that the facts of this case clearly illustrate the officers who used deadly force on Andrew Brown Jr. did so reasonably and only when a violent felon used a deadly weapon to put their lives in danger," Womble said.
Womble said that he found that "Brown's actions and conduct were indeed dangerous by the time of the shooting" because Brown posed an immediate threat to the safety of the officers and others.
He added that Brown's decision to flee "quickly escalated from a show of force to an employment of force" by deputies.
"When you employ a car in a way that puts officers' lives in danger, that is a threat," Womble said.
This decision comes after an investigation was conducted by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
Brown was shot on April 21 when deputies attempted to serve drug-related search and arrest warrants.
The three deputies involved in the shooting — Investigator Daniel Meads, Deputy Robert Morgan and Cpl. Aaron Lewellyn — have been on leave since it happened
Brown's family has called his death an "execution."
Womble said during the news conference Tuesday that he will not publically release the body camera footage of Brown's shooting.
Portions of the footage were played at the news conference to multiple news outlets.
Womble's version of what the footage showed was quite different from what Brown's family concluded when they were shown the footage.
Brown's family saw 20 minutes of body camera and dashcam footage and a family lawyer said the shooting was "absolutely, unequivocally unjustified."
"At no point did we ever see Mr. Brown make contact with law enforcement," attorney Chance told reporters. "We were able to see where they possibly reached out to make contact to him, but we did not see any actions on Mr. Brown's part where he made contact with them or try to go in their direction. In fact, he did just the opposite."
On April 30, a judge delayed the public release of the video due to concerns that the release would compromise the investigation.
