RALEIGH, N.C. — The family of Andrew Brown Jr. may have to wait longer to see body camera footage showing the moments when sheriff’s deputies shot and killed the Elizabeth City man while serving warrants at his home.
The written order from Superior Court Judge Jeff Foster comes more than a week after he denied a request in court by the family, the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office and a coalition of media organizations to make the footage of Brown’s shooting public.
Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies were serving search and arrest warrants for drug-related charges at Brown’s home on April 21 when they shot and killed him in his car shortly before 8:30 a.m. An autopsy commissioned by his family showed he was struck several times, including once in the back of the head. Brown’s death has sparked weeks of peaceful protests in the small town of about 18,000 about 165 miles from Raleigh.
An FBI spokesperson told The News & Observer last week that the agency has launched a civil rights investigation into Brown’s death, and the sheriff’s office says three deputies involved in the shooting remain on administrative leave amid a probe by the State Bureau of Investigation.
Body-worn cameras carried by Pasquotank County deputies captured the shooting, and both Brown’s family and the sheriff’s office have called for public release of the footage.
Law enforcement agencies can show the footage to certain people, including family members of those killed on camera.
That’s what happened days after the killing in Elizabeth City, when the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office screened about 20 seconds of one of the dash cam videos for members of Brown’s family.
But under North Carolina law, police and sheriff’s departments cannot unilaterally publish or provide copies of video from body-worn or dashboard cameras. Instead, they must petition a court and ask a judge to order their release.
The Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office filed that petition last week, asking Foster for an order to provide copies of videos from all of the cameras to Khalil Ferebee, one of Brown’s sons. In court on April 28, County Attorney Mike Cox argued for publication of the footage for both the family and the media, which filed its own petition to get the video.
Foster’s written decision, filed Thursday, largely matches the verbal order he issued from the bench: Although he said the family can’t have copies of the footage, he said portions of the videos should be shown to them with the faces of officers blurred.
He originally gave the sheriff’s office 10 days to comply — a deadline of Saturday. The written order Thursday, however, says the family should see the videos no later than next weekend, 10 days after the judge’s decision was filed.
Chantel Cherry-Lassiter, one of the Brown family’s attorneys, said the order leaves the timeline unclear.
“There’s just a lot of uncertainty here,” Cherry-Lassiter said.
But Foster’s order does not specify, as he did in court, that he’ll revisit release of the videos after 30 to 45 days. That would give the district attorney time to decide whether any criminal charges were appropriate. Instead, he leaves that timeline vague.
“Nothing in this Order shall prevent the reconsideration for release of the videos at a later time, upon the conclusion of both internal and criminal investigations arising from these incidents,” Foster wrote.
In court, District Attorney Andrew Womble, as well as attorney H.P. Williams on behalf of several unnamed clients, argued for such a delay to provide time to complete an ongoing probe by the SBI.
“I am putting (the SBI) under an incredible time crunch by asking this request for them to be finished in 30 days,” Womble told the judge on April 28. “I feel very comfortable that they can do that.”
Foster’s order, as written, leaves another thing unclear: Whether he meant for the family to get copies of one of the videos.
His decision notes five videos, four of which “shall be disclosed” to the family. Under state law, “disclosure” means a recording is made available for viewing. Although those files total almost two hours of video, the order allows the family to see about 20 minutes of footage combined.
But one video — a three-minute long file — “shall be released in its entirety” to the family. North Carolina’s body camera law says “release” means that an agency must provide copies.
A spokesperson with the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office, which is subject to the judge’s order, said in an email Friday that it is consulting with the county attorney for clarification.
Cherry-Lassiter said the Brown family’s legal team is also discussing next steps, but she noted that she’s concerned there’s still much of the video the family won’t be allowed to see.
“They’re determining what parts to show, which is not complete transparency,” she said.
Attorneys for the media coalition say they have not yet received a written order for their own petition, which separately asked Foster to release the video to the public. In court, Foster denied that petition on the grounds that the media didn’t have standing to ask for the video’s release.
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