Andrew Brown Jr.'s family to file civil rights lawsuit against deputies, lawyer says: What we know

An attorney representing the family of Andrew Brown Jr., an unarmed Black man who was shot and killed by deputies in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, said he plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against the deputies and the department.

Chance D. Lynch, an attorney for the Brown family, told USA TODAY that he petitioned the court for the family to see full unredacted body camera footage and details from the state investigation. He said he also hoped the Justice Department will "take a role in this."

The Pasquotank County district attorney on Tuesday announced that a state investigation found Brown endangered the deputies by using his vehicle as a deadly weapon while resisting arrest last month. The deputies involved – Investigator Daniel Meads, Deputy Robert Morgan and Cpl. Aaron Lewellyn – were justified in their actions and will not face criminal charges, District Attorney Andrew Womble said.

Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten said Tuesday the deputies who shot Brown will keep their jobs but be "disciplined and retrained." Morgan is Black and Meads and Lewellyn are white, according to the sheriff. Four others who were at the scene were reinstated after the sheriff said they didn’t fire their weapons.

The decision prompted protests Tuesday night in Elizabeth City, about 170 miles northeast of Raleigh. About 70 people gathered to demand transparency and the release of body camera footage.

About 50 protesters returned Wednesday night to the Pasquotank County Public Safety Building with a new cry: “FBI investigate!”

Among them was a white girl in a stroller who held a sign with a photo of the police and the words “Modern Day lynch mob."

'Everything wrong with policing in America': Clips of Andrew Brown shooting show the limits of bodycam videos

Brown, 42, was shot April 21 as county deputies attempted to serve him with arrest warrants over "the sale of uncontrolled substances," Womble said.

The deputies shot Brown five times, including once in the back of his head, according to an independent autopsy commissioned by his family. Though the official autopsy reports have not been released, Womble said Tuesday an autopsy showed Brown suffered two gunshot wounds, including one to the back the head.

Here's what we know:

Protests have become a nightly routine in Elizabeth City

Protesters swept through the streets of Elizabeth City again Wednesday in a routine that residents have come to expect each night. Cars snaked around the corners behind the crowd to follow the protesters – with some people sticking signs through their sunroofs to show their support.

Not everyone in vehicles was friendly to the cause, though.

A white Suburban revved around the corner and drove aggressively just yards away from the protesters down a side street. The woman driving had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and kicked up dust on a nearby protester who shouted in anger. The police ahead didn’t take notice.

One sign in a neighborhood church caught the attention of the crowd and many began to pull out cameras. The sign read, “Thank you to all our law enforcement officers for serving our community.”

Police declared an unlawful assembly just before 8:30 p.m. Before that announcement, one man climbed on top of a police vehicle and was arrested when he got down.

"So we don't have the right to be in the streets, but the police officers have a right to be in the streets?" one woman with a bullhorn said. "Y'all are no better than us."

"When y'all go home, we'll go home!" shouted a man through his bullhorn as police vehicles filled the street.

Brown's family petitions to see full bodycam footage, disputes prosecutor's narrative

A ruling last month by a North Carolina superior court judge prevented the public release of the video and limited the family to seeing clips of more than two hours of available video. It also allowed the faces of the deputies to be redacted.

On Tuesday, Lynch said he submitted a petition with the court for the family to see the full body camera footage and all video, audio and images, as well as details from the State Bureau of Investigation.

Lynch said the family viewed about 18 minutes of video and that he had trouble determining who was doing what because the faces of the deputies were blurred. But, what was clear to him and the family was Brown was turning left and trying to get away.

'Release the tapes': Protesters demand footage after Sheriff identified deputies involved in fatal shooting of Andrew Brown Jr.

"How was he a threat when he went across the grass and he was going the opposite direction?" Lynch said.

Family lawyers have previously called the shooting "unequivocally unjustified," saying Brown was not armed and did not drive toward deputies or pose a threat.

They reiterated that sentiment following the news Tuesday, disputing Womble's narrative and saying Brown's vehicle was moving away from officers. In a statement, they also demanded the release of the full body camera video and raised questions about the contention that Brown was driving toward the deputies when he was killed.

"To say this shooting was justified, despite the known facts, is both an insult and a slap in the face to Andrew’s family, the Elizabeth City community and to rational people everywhere," attorney's for Brown's family said in the statement. "We certainly got neither transparency nor justice today.'

'Judge rules: Bodycam video will not be released for now in Andrew Brown Jr. fatal shooting

Why have we not seen body camera video?

Despite a lawsuit and outraged pleas from community members, Womble declined to directly release copies of the body camera videos. But Tuesday, he played clips during the news conference for the first time publicly.

North Carolina law does not consider body camera footage a public record and its release requires a court order.

A judge previously said footage may be released to the public after the completion of the state investigation to prevent any potential threats to the safety of those in the video and to ensure a fair and impartial trial if the deputies were to face charges.

It is unclear if the footage will now be released.

'Unequivocally unjustified': Family of Andrew Brown Jr. views bodycam video of fatal shooting by North Carolina deputies

What we know about the video

Photos and clips from four body camera videos played at the news conference Tuesday showed officers surrounding the vehicle as Brown tried to maneuver away. A deputy is shown near the front of the car before he pulls slightly away when Brown drives forward.

In Womble's description of the video, he said Brown reversed his car when deputies approached him at his home. One of the deputy's hands was on the hood of the car, and officers shouted for Brown to stop the car, but, "Brown ignored officers' demands," Womble said. The deputy had to take "evasive action" to get out of the way of the front left tire.

When Brown accelerated forward, the first shot was fired and entered through the front window of the car, Womble said. He said as Brown's car continued forward, several additional shots were fired.

He emphasized the deputies did not shoot until after Brown's car moved, and the videos seem to confirm that, although Brown appears to try to avoid the deputies.

Attorneys for Brown's family dispute what the videos show.

Earlier this month, family attorney Chance Lynch said Brown's family viewed six clips, including one dash camera tape and five body camera videos from deputies.

Lynch said Brown's hands were visible at all times as deputies screamed conflicting commands for Brown to both show his hands and get out of the car. Lynch said after the first shot, Brown reversed the car before moving forward. He said the officers they could see in the footage were not near the vehicle and weren't in his path.

"We did not see any actions on Mr. Brown's part where he made contact with them or tried to go in their direction. In fact, he did just the opposite," he said.

Meanwhile, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, called on federal officials to investigate.

“Public confidence would have been better served with a special prosecutor and by quickly making public the incident footage,” he said in a statement.

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Experts raise questions over whether deadly force was required

An officer is justified in using deadly force on the driver of a vehicle "when a suspect is using it to enhance his ability to kill or injure someone, or (in extremely rare instances) when his escape would endanger others," said Charles "Sid" Heal, a retired commander from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department who has written extensively about using nonlethal force.

Brown's actions did not deserve to be met with deadly force, said Stephanie Hartung, a Northeastern University law professor with an expertise on state and federal criminal procedure. She emphasized that Brown was not charged with a violent crime.

The video unveiled Tuesday indicates Brown was not trying to use his car to injure the deputies but rather to flee them, she added.

“If you look at the incident itself and the direction of travel relevant to the officers, that threat level doesn’t seem to be elevated in a meaningful way, certainly not to warrant deadly force," Hartung said.

Bodycams haven't lived up to promises of exposing police misconduct. One reason: The police decide what to release.

Who is the district attorney?

In a statement Tuesday, family attorneys criticized Womble's decision to not pursue criminal charges against the deputies.

“Andrew Brown Jr., his grieving family, and this community deserve answers," the statement said. "And they received anything but from D.A. Womble’s attempt to whitewash this unjustified killing."

Womble was appointed the first ever public defender for North Carolina’s First Judicial District in 2004. In 2013, Womble was nominated to serve the final year in the term of Frank Parrish, who died in office as the district attorney for the state’s First Judicial District.

Womble’s tenure as prosecutor since then has included his decision to seek the death penalty for four prison inmates charged in the 2017 murders of a prison manager, a mechanic and two corrections officers.

Womble announced in March that he would not run for reelection as district attorney in 2022. Instead, he plans to seek a state superior court judgeship, The Daily Advance in Elizabeth City reported.

Contributing: Alison Cutler and Ayano Nagaishi, USA TODAY Network; Hayes, Jorge L. Ortiz and Kevin McCoy, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

Contact News NOW Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Andrew Brown Jr. video: Family to sue deputies, sheriff in shooting