Image via AP Photo/Travis Long
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ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (AP) A North Carolina prosecutor said Tuesday that sheriff’s deputies were justified in fatally shooting Andrew Brown Jr. because he ignored their commands and endangered at least two of them when he drove his car toward them.
District Attorney Andrew Womble said at a news conference that Brown used his car as a “deadly weapon,” causing Pasquotank County deputies to believe it was necessary to use deadly force. Womble, who acknowledged Brown wasn’t armed with guns or other weapons, said the deputies will face no criminal charges.
Andrew Brown Jr. case: Deputies will keep jobs after prosecutor says fatal shooting justified
By Kelly Hayes and Megan Ziegler
Published
Andrew Brown Jr s death justified, according to North Carolina District Attorney; Officers will not face charges
North Carolina District Attorney Andrew Womble said at a press conference on Tuesday that the deputy-involved shooting of Andrew Brown Jr. while tragic, was justified.
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. - The three deputies involved in the killing of Andrew Brown Jr. last month in Elizabeth City will keep their jobs after being disciplined and retrained, Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten II said Tuesday just hours after a district attorney said the deputies were justified in their actions.
Prosecutor says deputies justified in shooting of Black man
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Attorney Harry Daniels speaks during a press conference outside the Pasqoutank County Public Safety building in Elizabeth City, N.C., Tuesday, May 11, 2021, after family of Andrew Brown Jr. viewed about 20 minutes of video from the police shooting death of Brown in April. Family attorneys said the longer, redacted video showed Brown did nothing to threaten or provoke deputies and his hands were visible when they approached his car. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP)
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (AP) – North Carolina sheriff’s deputies were justified in their fatal shooting of a Black man in April because the man ignored their commands and drove his car directly at one of them before they fired any shots, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
During his news conference, Womble said a deputy who tried to open Brown‘s car door wound up partly on the hood as Brown backed up, and the deputy found himself directly in the car’s path moments later when Brown drove forward. Womble said the deputy had to push off the car with his hand to narrowly avoid being run over, and at least one of the other deputies was also endangered as the group tried to take Brown into custody on drug-related warrants.
“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, referring to Brown‘s car. He added that he found that “Brown‘s actions and conduct were indeed dangerous by the time of the shooting. … Brown posed an immediate threat to the safety of the officers and others.”
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