7 Pasquotank deputies on leave, Cooper calls for release of body camera video

Three Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies have resigned and another seven have been put on leave after the fatal shooting of Andrew Brown Jr. in Elizabeth City, though a sheriff’s department spokesman said the resignations were not related to Brown’s death.

Gov. Roy Cooper called for body camera footage of the shooting to be released, as did Elizabeth City leaders.

“Initial reports of the shooting in Elizabeth City and death of Andrew Brown Jr. this week are tragic and extremely concerning,” Cooper tweeted Friday evening. “The body camera footage should be made public as quickly as possible and the SBI should investigate thoroughly to ensure accountability.”

In addition to the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation review, Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy S. Wooten called for an outside agency to review the department’s actions. He said any officers who broke the law will be held accountable.

Maj. Aaron Wallio of the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office told the Associated Press late Friday that the three resignations were not related to Brown’s death.

The news about the deputies Friday followed reports earlier in the day that Brown was shot in the back Wednesday as deputies went to his home to serve warrants, according to emergency radio traffic from the shooting.

On Friday, the Elizabeth City council voted during an emergency meeting to ask the sheriff and district attorney to support a judge releasing body camera video from the shooting to the public. North Carolina law says only a judge can make that decision, not local leaders or law enforcement officials.

“We’re going into 72 hours of this thing, and still there’s no answers,” Councilman Gabriel Adkins said. “Each day that goes by, there’s more pain and more anger.”

It was county deputies, not city police, who shot Brown. But even as city leaders push for information, the county still has not released the names of the deputies involved or many details of what happened.

Some of Brown’s family attended Friday’s council meeting. Mayor Bettie Parker and other officials told them the city would do what it could to get the footage released, but that the family would have the best standing to persuade a judge to make the video public.

Is police body cam video public in NC? How do you get it? Your questions answered.

There is also a less public option, where law enforcement could keep the video secret from the public but let Brown’s family watch it. City officials, though, said they support full transparency.

“This is a national epidemic, the murder of black men,” Councilman Michael Brooks said. “And all we’re asking for is they release the body cam (video). What reason would anyone have ... not to show the bodycam?”

Multiple media organizations also plan to go to court to seek the release of the body cam footage.

On Friday a White House reporter for McClatchy, which owns The News & Observer, asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki if President Joe Biden knew about the shooting and had any opinion on releasing the video footage.

Psaki said Biden was following the story, which she called a tragedy, but that she hadn’t talked to him about the body cam footage issue.

Shot in the back

The Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office has said deputies had a search warrant Wednesday when at least one deputy shot Brown. The 42-year-old father’s death drew protests in the small northeastern North Carolina town and also made national news.

The shooting happened the morning after a jury in Minnesota found Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murdering George Floyd, in a rare court loss for an officer who killed someone while on duty.

Dispatch radio recordings are public records, and the Broadcastify.com website records them in most counties, including Pasquotank. The radio-traffic details of the Brown shooting were first reported Friday morning by WRAL-TV.

According to scanner traffic, law enforcement told dispatch that shots were fired after responding to Brown’s address on Perry Street shortly before 8:30 a.m.

“We do have a subject that was hit,” a voice on the radio tells dispatch at about 8:25 a.m.

About a minute later, someone on the scene provided the first details of the shooting victim.

“Be advised. EMS has got one male 42 years of age. Gunshot to the back. We do have a viable pulse at this time.”

Shortly after, another caller repeated the male victim “had gunshot wounds to the back.”

Sheriff’s Office: ‘High risk of danger’

Other details of the shooting — like a report of at least 14 shots being fired — have been reported by neighbors but not commented on by the sheriff’s office.

Wooten held a press conference Wednesday afternoon in which he said he hadn’t watched body cam footage yet and could not comment on whether the shooting was justified. The News & Observer was not able to ask him if he had watched it as of Friday.

In a followup video his office posted online Thursday, Wooten said he “will not prejudge anything or draw any conclusions until we have all the facts.”

“I will say if evidence shows that any of my deputies violated the law, or our policies, they will be held accountable,” he added.

Wooten’s chief deputy, Daniel Fogg, said in the video that because Brown was accused of a felony and had a prior record, “our training and our policies indicate, under such circumstances, there is a high risk of danger.”

Brown most recently got of prison in 2018 after serving a year and four months on drug charges, according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety. He completed his parole in 2019.

The sheriff’s office has not said why deputies went to his house this week. He had pending criminal charges for traffic and drug offenses.

Brown did not appear to have a history of violence, according to his criminal record, except for a misdemeanor assault from over 20 years ago.

Staff writer Charlie Innis contributed to this report.