A North Carolina man who was shot and killed by police was attempting to run them over with his car, a prosecutor said in court on Wednesday.
“As [the car] backs up, it does make contact with law enforcement officers,” First Judicial District District Attorney Andrew Womble told a North Carolina judge. “The next movement of the car is forward. It is in the direction of law enforcement and makes contact with law enforcement. It is then and only then that you hear shots.”
Andrew Brown Jr. was shot in his car by Elizabeth City, North Carolina police on April 21 as they attempted to serve him with a search warrant.
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina prosecutor says Black man killed by deputies hit them with car before they fired shots.
— Mike Balsamo (@MikeBalsamo1) April 28, 2021
Womble opposed the release of police body camera footage of the shooting during the hearing, saying that it could compromise an investigation into the shooting. He asked for a 30-day delay in releasing the footage.
Judge Jeffrey Foster denied media requests to release the body camera footage.
NEW:
Judge Jeffrey Foster denies media petition of body camera footage in the shooting of Andrew Brown Jr.
Foster says the media is not a person who is eligible for release of the video and the release of the video would impede the ongoing investigation.#ENCNews #NCPol
— Liam Collins WITN (@Liam_CollinsTV) April 28, 2021
Brown’s son will be allowed to view the footage within the next ten days, once police blur out the faces of some individuals involved in the shooting.
Brown’s family commissioned an independent autopsy, which found that he was killed by a gunshot to the back of the head. The family claimed that Brown was “executed” and posed no threat to the police when he was shot.
The Brown family’s attorney, Ben Crump, tweeted that Brown “was gunned down by police in North Carolina as he was allegedly driving away from them, posing no danger to officers.” (RELATED: This Lawyer Regularly Makes False And Unfounded Claims About Deaths That Inspired Riots)
This is Andrew Brown Jr — a 42yo Black father of SEVEN. He was gunned down by police in North Carolina as he was allegedly driving away from them, posing no danger to officers. pic.twitter.com/TtUAqW5hFd
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) April 24, 2021
Elizabeth City went into a state of emergency on April 26 after officials predicted “civil unrest.”