As a follow-up in the Brown case. In breaking news...
NC judge declines to release body-cam footage to public in Andrew Brown death
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article250998794.html
Superior Court Judge Jeff Foster declined Wednesday to release to the public the body camera footage of the shooting and killing of Andrew Brown Jr. by Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies last week.
Some of Brown’s family will be allowed to view, but not get copies, of the videos. Foster said the videos will be disclosed to Brown’s son Khalil Ferebee, a few immediate family members and one attorney within 10 days.
Officers’ faces, name tags and any other identifying information will be blurred or redacted in those videos, the judge said. There are four body camera videos and one dash cam video from a vehicle that the family will be able to view.
The videos will be held from release to the family for no less than 30 days and no more than 45 days, which will allow ongoing investigations to be completed, Foster said. The court will consider release at that point, depending on any potential charges.
Brown’s family left the courthouse without comment.
The judge heard 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.
In court Wednesday, Mike Cox, attorney for Pasquotank County and its sheriff’s office, said the sheriff’s office wants to release the video to the family and the news media, in accordance with the law.
“While the body-cam footage only shows one perspective for a limited period of time, it might give the public some ability to understand what happened that day,” Cox said.
Cox said the release of the footage will not impede the independent investigations by the FBI and North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation in this case.
But Pasquotank County District Attorney Andrew Womble argued against the full and immediate release of the body camera footage. He said there’s a compelling public interest for accountability, but the release would hinder a fair trial, risk the safety of the deputies and affect active investigations.
Womble, who would be the one to bring criminal charges in this case, said the footage should be released as evidence, if and when there’s a criminal trial.
Womble asked that the judge, who has watched the footage, disclose any portion that he deems appropriate to Andrew Brown’s family when practicable and with any redactions necessary. He argued the video should be released to the family in 30 days, after the SBI has completed its investigation. Womble would then want to have the footage released in open court at a jury trial after charges have been brought.
If no charges are brought, he said he would release the video at a press conference where he explains that decision.
“I want your honor to give me an opportunity to complete this investigation, or the SBI to complete this investigation, let me review it, make my decision,” Womble said. “And then everyone can Monday morning quarterback me.”
H.P. Williams, an attorney on behalf of unnamed clients, also argued against the release of the footage. But, he said he would not oppose disclosure of the video to the family as long as faces of the officers involved are redacted so that they cannot be identified.
“The officers are very distraught over what happened. They feel for the family of Andrew Brown,” Williams said. “But, as Mr. Womble described to you, we believe that the shooting was justified.”
‘Advocating for transparency’
Speaking for a group of state and national media organizations, Mike Tadych argued that the footage needs to be released to help bring facts to a subject that has generated much speculation and rumor.
They are seeking the release of the recordings of the incident involving Brown from the time they begin to the time of the protests that followed that night.
Tadych also highlighted the national discussion ongoing about police accountability issues as a reason to release the footage.
“The petitioners are not here to indict or vindicate law enforcement. And they are not here to indict or vindicate Mr. Brown,” Tadych said. “They are here in the interest of advocating for transparency in the hopes of aiding the national conversation we find ourselves in about citizens’ interaction with the police.”
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.
Here is what the DA is saying...
DA argues Andrew Brown Jr.'s car struck deputies twice, family lawyer gave 'patently false' bodycam remarks
DA Andrew Womble called on the judge to admonish Brown family attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter
https://www.foxnews.com/us/andrew-brown-jr-struck-deputies-twice-bodycam-delayed-30-days
A district attorney in North Carolina said in court on Wednesday that Andrew Brown Jr.'s car "made contact" with sheriff's deputies twice before law enforcement opened fire, calling comments made earlier this week by one of the attorneys representing Brown's family about what was captured on 20 seconds of body camera footage "patently false."
The claim came during a hearing at the Pasquotank County Courthouse, where Superior Court Judge Jeffery Foster ruled all bodycam footage of the April 21 fatal deputy-involved shooting of Brown will be delayed for public release for at least 30 days.
District Attorney Andrew Womble told the judge that video showed Brown’s car made contact with deputies twice as he backed out of the driveway of his home in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, that day, before law enforcement began firing.
"As it backs up, it does make contact with law enforcement officers," Womble said, adding that the car stops again. "The next movement of the car is forward. It is in the direction of law enforcement and makes contact with law enforcement. It is then and only then that you hear shots."
Statements made by attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter at a press conference earlier this week describing the "movements" of Brown’s car in the video are "patently false," Womble added.
Deputies had arrived to serve drug-related arrest and warrants. Womble asked the judge, who viewed the footage himself, to publicly admonish Brown's family attorneys for failing to give a fair and accurate depiction of the video.
Cherry-Lassiter, an attorney representing the Brown family, was part of a group privately shown 20 seconds of body camera video on Monday inside the Pasquotank County Public Safety building.
At a press conference afterward, Cherry-Lassiter, who said she took three pages of notes as she watched the video several times, argued it depicted "an execution," as Brown had his hands on the steering wheel and was not threatening deputies as he was fired upon.
"Let's be clear. This was an execution. Andrew Brown was in his driveway. The sheriff truck blocked him in his driveway so he could not exit his driveway," she said at the press conference Monday. "Andrew had his hands on his steering wheel – he was not reaching for anything, he was not touching anything, he wasn't throwing anything around. He has his hands firmly on the steering wheel."
She claimed deputies has already begun firing as Brown backed out of the driveway and avoided striking the law enforcement officer. Brown then drove away from deputies, who did not stop firing even when his vehicle crashed into a tree, Cherry-Lassiter said.
"We watched this over and over and over to make sure we were sure about what was going on and what was transparent," the attorney continued, using her notes at times to recall what the video showed. "He finally tries to try to get away and he backs out – not going toward the officers at all. At no time in the 20 seconds that we saw was he threatening the officers in any kind of way."
An independent autopsy released by Brown's family attorneys Tuesday showed that the 42-year-old Black man was shot five times -- four times in the right arm, and a fifth fatal gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Though he delayed the release of the footage at this time, Foster approved disclosure of the videos to Brown’s adult son, Khalil Ferebee, other immediate family members and one licensed attorney in North Carolina within 10 days. The faces of the officers will be blurred before the disclosure, the judge said. The disclosure will include five files, but four videos in total from body cameras and a dash cam.
Releasing the videos at this time would jeopardize the reputation or safety of a person, pose a serious threat to the administration of justice and infringe on the confidentiality necessary to protect a possible criminal investigation, Foster said. The judge also denied a petition made be a media coalition for the videos’ release despite the compelling public interest.
The body camera footage will be held for release between at least 30 days and no more than 45 days to allow North Carolina’s State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) to move forward with their probe into the shooting, Foster said. The SBI will be ordered to present its findings to the court, when Foster will make another determination about the videos’ release. The judge said he spent hours Tuesday reviewing all footage obtained by SBI of the shooting and therefore knew the contents before considering petitions from several parties Wednesday.
Petitions to release the body camera footage came from a media coalition and Pasquotank County Attorney R. Michael Cox, who filed on behalf of Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten II. Seven deputies have been placed on administrative leave since the shooting.
"I wanted the body camera footage to be released to the public as soon as possible, and I’m disappointed it won’t happen immediately," Wooten said in statement after the hearing. "Obviously, I’ll respect the judge’s ruling. Although we’re unable to show the public what happened right now, the independent investigators are working to complete their investigation. As soon as all of the important facts are given to me, I will act quickly to ensure accountability and I’ll be as transparent as I possibly can with the public."
The FBI Charlotte Field Office announced Tuesday that it opened a federal civil rights investigation.
"We are deeply disappointed by the judge’s decision to not make body camera footage from the involved officers available to be viewed by the public," a statement released Wednesday by civil rights attorney Ben Crump and co-counsels Cherry-Lassiter, Bakari Sellers and Harry Daniels said. "In this modern civil rights crisis where we see Black people killed by the police everywhere we look, video evidence is the key to discerning the truth and getting well-deserved justice for victims of senseless murders."
"Just look at the murder of George Floyd – if the world had not seen that clear and disturbing footage, there might not have even been an ounce of accountability for those officers. We refuse to be discouraged and vow to keep the pressure on these agencies until we get to the truth. We will not stop saying his name. Andrew Brown Jr."
In a statement provided to Fox News before the hearing, SBI Director Robert L. Schurmeier had said state investigators "would defer to the local authorities and the courts to make that determination as guided by State law" regarding all relevant video.
"The SBI supports transparency to the greatest extent possible, as we think this serves the interests of the family, the local community, and North Carolina as a whole," Schurmeier added.
Here is where the arguments are misguided.
Video evidence is available
Video evidence is being reviewed by authorities.
Releasing it to the public is not required for justice. To say not releasing it to the public is not justice is like say a Prosecutor is not trying a case in court if the evidence is not shown to everyone outside the courthouse.
The video should be released to the public to shine a light on what happened but right now only those related to the victim and the investogators NEED to see it.
