Family of Andrew Brown Jr. files $30 million federal lawsuit against deputies who shot and killed him
A federal lawsuit seeking $30 million in damages was filed Wednesday against the sheriff’s office deputies involved in the April 21 fatal shooting of Andrew Brown Jr. in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
The complaint was filed on behalf of Brown’s seven children by Lillie Brown Clark, the administrator of Brown’s estate and his paternal aunt. It lists as defendants the sheriffs of Pasquotank and Dare counties, and several named and unnamed deputies involved in the shooting of Brown outside his home.
Among the attorneys representing the Brown family: Harry M. Daniels, of Atlanta, Bakari Sellers, of Columbia, South Carolina, and Ben Crump of Washington. Crump also has been involved in the high-profile wrongful death cases of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery.
At a news conference Wednesday outside Elizabeth City’s federal courthouse, Daniels and Sellers said the lawsuit will enable them to obtain the deputies’ body cam footage and other evidence that authorities have refused to turn over. They said they plan to make the videos public as soon as they get them.
“Justice is upon us,” Daniels said. “We now have federal subpoena authority to get all the videos, all the tapes, all the recordings. And no district attorney, no county administrator, and no state court can stop us from doing that.”
An official with the Dare County Commissioner’s Office declined to comment Wednesday. The Pasquotank Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit claims the deputies violated Brown’s constitutional rights and the laws of North Carolina by using unlawful and deadly force against him.
A team of deputies from Pasquotank and Dare counties arrived at Brown’s Perry Street home at 8:23 a.m. April 21 with warrants to arrest him and search his property. They planned to charge the 42-year-old man with two drug deals in March in Dare County, according to the lawsuit.
Brown was sitting in his car in his driveway, with his cell phone up to his ear when the team got there. He was unarmed and his hands were visible, the lawsuit said.
Several officers charged up to the car and confronted Brown, pointing assault rifles and shouting at him, the lawsuit said. Brown was “startled and afraid” and attempted to escape by first backing up, then driving to the left to avoid hitting any officers, the complaint said.
The officers began firing as he pulled away and continued to shoot after Brown was a “considerable distance away,” the lawsuit said. Brown was struck multiple times in his arm and once in the back of his head. He died at the scene.
“At no time were any members of the (Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office or Dare County Sheriff’s Office) or others in any imminent threat of harm or injury by Brown or his vehicle,” the complaint said.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation was asked to investigate the shooting. On May 18, Andrew Womble, the district attorney for northeastern North Carolina, said the investigation had determined the shooting was justified and no officers would be charged. Womble said the deputies fired because they feared Brown was going to hit some of them with his car.
Dare County Sheriff’s Office policy instructs deputies not to shoot at suspects in cars, Daniels said.
The attorney also pointed to a 2019 federal appeals court ruling — which has jurisdiction over the North Carolina federal courts — that said officers who fired at a fleeing suspect violated the man’s Fourth Amendment right to freedom from excessive force when they continued shooting at him after he drove away.
In that case, the man admitted to trying to hit the officers, Daniels said.
Jane Harper, 757-222-5097, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
