Crump urges 'due process' at Andrew Brown's funeral

The killing of Brown, 42, under unclear circumstances has captured the national spotlight. It occurred on April 21, a day after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd in a highly publicized trial.

"We thought that George Floyd represented that we were going to stop this unnecessary and unjustifiable killings of Black men," Crump said at the funeral on Monday (May 3).

A casket bearing Brown's body was due to make its way to the Fountain of Life Church with his son, Khalil Ferebee, acting as a pallbearer. Several people gathered nearby, some wearing T-shirts that said, "I am Andrew Brown" and "Say his name."

The shooting, and a decision by authorities not to make public a video of the incident, triggered several boisterous but peaceful demonstrations in Elizabeth City, a riverfront community whose population of roughly 18,000 is half African-American.

A North Carolina judge last Wednesday rejected requests to release four videos from body-worn police cameras of the shooting, siding with arguments their immediate disclosure could jeopardize active investigations.