Prosecutor Crushes Andrew Brown Jr. Family Attorney's Narrative, Tells Judge the Damning Video Shows Cops Were Reacting to a Big Threat
Last week, a 42-year-old black man named Andrew Brown Jr. was fatally shot by police in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The media immediately jumped on the case as it appeared to fit their narrative of systemic racism in police forces around the country.
“Last week’s fatal shooting of [Brown] while he was apparently driving away from deputies who were trying to execute drug-related search and arrest warrants, is drawing a lot of attention, coming so soon after the shooting deaths of Adam Toledo, 13, in Chicago and Ma’Khia Bryant, 16, in Columbus, Ohio,” The New York Times reported.
Of course, The Times failed to mention that both the Toledo and Bryant shootings were a result of armed confrontations. Instead, the paper wishes to subtly paint a picture of black Americans being killed without giving the context of their criminal behavior.
As it turns out, the Andrew Brown Jr. case may be another example of an arguably justified shooting.
Police were trying to execute search and arrest warrants for drug-related crimes when they apprehended Brown. Instead of cooperating, Brown reportedly tried to drive away, and he was eventually shot and killed.
The Times said that a lawyer for Brown’s family viewed a 20-second clip of the shooting and called it an “execution.” He said Brown was in his car with his hands on the wheel and was not holding a weapon.
However, District Attorney Andrew Womble told a judge in North Carolina on Wednesday that after viewing the video, he disagrees with the assessment by the Brown family’s attorney, WSOC-TV reported.
While he did not say that Brown was holding a weapon, he argued that the vehicle Brown was in presented a threat to the officers as he drove toward them.
“As [the car] backs up, it does make contact with law enforcement officers,” Womble said. “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.”
In other words, Womble feels that the officers did not fire until they saw a threat from Brown driving his car toward them.
While this is just one man’s interpretation of the video, it certainly makes sense if true. While a car is not technically a weapon, a full-sized vehicle coming toward you can present just as much of a threat as a gun can.
As of Wednesday morning, the body camera footage has not been released. The Times reported that North Carolina law prohibits body camera footage from being released until it is approved by a judge.
At the very least, Brown was apparently resisting arrest by trying to drive away from police. Even a lawyer for the Brown family admitted as much, WSOC reported.
“So he was able to back up as these shots were coming into the vehicle,” attorney Wayne Kendall said. “He was able to back up turn his vehicle around, spin off across a vacant lot and at that time he was hit in the back of the head here, and that was the fatal bullet wound that was described in the death certificate.”
One can argue whether or not the police needed to deploy guns in the case of a suspect trying to drive away. Either way, Brown is not completely innocent, despite what the media would have people believe.
If Womble’s assessment is correct, Brown would be guilty not only of driving away from an attempted arrest but also of attempting to hit officers with a motor vehicle.
It’s still unclear whether the police shooting was justified, especially considering that the body camera footage has not yet been released. Nonetheless, protesters have already taken to the streets to claim that the shooting was racially based.
The Times reported that protesters have been taking part in “peaceful demonstrations” since the shooting. On Tuesday, city and county officials established a curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
According to WSOC, at least five people were arrested Tuesday night after breaking curfew.
“I feel like we are targeted,” Councilman Gabriel Adkins said at a city council meeting last week, according to The Times.
“I’m afraid as a black man walking around in this city, driving my car down the road, trying to make sure that I’m driving the speed limit, trying to make sure that I wear my seatbelt, trying to make sure that I do everything right, because I don’t want an officer to get behind me.”
Once again, there has yet to be any evidence presented that would prove the shooting to be racially based. Yet as has become custom for the left, people are jumping to conclusions before the facts of the case are even established.
According to WSOC, the FBI is investigating the incident. This seems to be a logical step in determining the actual facts surrounding Brown’s death.
“The FBI’s Charlotte field office, which opened the civil rights investigation into Brown’s death, said in a statement that its agents planned to work closely with the Department of Justice ‘to determine whether federal laws were violated,'” the station reported.
It could be that once the evidence comes out, the video is released and a potential trial takes place, officers are convicted in Brown’s death. On the other hand, it could be that they are found to have been justified in the shooting.
Either way, protesting and crying “racism” without knowing the facts of the case is only going to further divide the country.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
