Update: 12:10 p.m.
A prosecutor arguing for a delay in the release of body cam footage that captured the fatal shooting of Andrew Brown, Jr. said in court on Wednesday that Brown his sheriff’s deputies with his car before he was killed.
As WAVY reports, Pasquotank County District Attorney Andrew Womble attended a hearing in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, on Wednesday as a coalition of media organizations have petitioned for the immediate release of the footage that captured the police shooting on April 21.
Womble’s comments in court on Wednesday are the first by any law enforcement officials involved in the investigation that suggest Brown was intentionally trying to hit officers as he drove away from the scene. Pasquotank Sheriff’s deputies arrived to his home on the morning of April 21 to serve search and arrest warrants in connection to a yearlong investigation of suspected drug activity.
The judge said he will make a decision today on the release of the body cam video.
CrimeOnline will provide further updates when more information is available.
ORIGINAL STORY:
A North Carolina judge is hearing arguments for the release of the police body cam video that captured the fatal shooting of Andrew Brown, Jr.
As WAVY reports, a group of nearly two dozen media outlets that have petitioned for the release of body cam footage of the fatal shooting on April 21. Brown, 42, was fatally shot in his car shortly after Pasquotank County Sheriff’s deputies arrived to serve arrest and search warrants in connection to a drug investigation.
“There is a difference between the public wanting to see the body cams and needing to see the body cams,” an attorney believed to be representing law enforcement said in court. The WAVY report does not identify the judge or any of the attorneys, and notes that the court made a last-minute decision to permit the proceedings to be streamed live.
The attorney said that sheriff’s deputies seen in the video could be at risk of personal harm or damage to their reputation if the footage is released, and appeared to argue against any criminal proceedings against the deputies involved in Brown’s death, which is not the focus of Wednesday’s hearing.
“There is nowhere that you would be able to have a fair and impartial trial” for any deputies who may be charged in Brown’s death, the lawyer said.
The judge confirmed that he will make a decision on the release of the body cam footage on Wednesday, following the hearing.
Watch a livestream at WAVY news here.
CrimeOnline will provide further updates when more information is available.
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[Feature image: People gather for a peaceful demonstration, Thursday, April 22, 2021, in Elizabeth City, N.C., protesting the shooting of Andrew Brown Jr., 42, by a deputy sheriff trying to serve a search warrant. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)]
