Did Andrew Brown's criminal history justify manpower, firepower used to serve warrant?
Following the fatal shooting last week of an Elizabeth City man by Pasquotank County deputies, people have demanded to know exactly what happened on a quiet street that morning that left a man dead.
A judge has determined that video of the incident recorded by deputies' body-worn cameras won't be publicly released for at least a month, so WRAL Investigates used available information to try to piece it together.
On April 20, Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office Investigator Daniel Meads, who is part of the multi-agency Albemarle Drug Task Force, requested a warrant to search Andrew Brown Jr., his home in Elizabeth City and his 2004 BMW.
The application for the warrant said that Dare County investigators had recorded Brown selling cocaine and methamphetamine to an informant on separate occasions in March.
Superior Court Judge Jerry Tillett approved the warrant, and around 8:30 a.m. April 21, a group of officers in tactical gear piled into a small pickup truck and headed to Brown's home. Seconds after rounding the corner onto Perry Street, they began yelling, “Put your hands up!” Gunshots rang out soon after.
Sheriff Tommy Wooten said seven deputies were at the scene, but only three of them fired their weapons. He identified them Thursday as Meads, Deputy Robert Morgan and Cpl. Aaron Lewellyn.
All three remain on leave pending the outcome of a State Bureau of Investigation review of the shooting.
Wooten returned the four deputies who didn't fire their weapons – Lt. Steven Judd, Sgt. Michael Swindell, Sgt. Kenneth Bishop and Sgt. Joel Lunsford – to active duty on Thursday.
Although the bodycam footage remains out of sight, Brown’s son and a family attorney were allowed to view a 20-second clip on Monday.
"Numerous, numerous assault weapons were at the scene," attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter said, calling the shooting "an execution."
An autopsy requested by Brown’s family shows that the 42-year-old was shot five times and that he died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Although Cherry-Lassiter said Brown never posed a threat to the deputies, District Attorney Andrew Womble said during a Wednesday court hearing that Brown drove at the deputies as he tried to get away.
"As I've said, they believe the shooting was justified," attorney H.P. Williams, who represents the deputies, said during the court hearing.
The Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office use-of-force policy discourages deputies from shooting at moving vehicles and the people inside unless there's an imminent threat.
Why were so many deputies involved, and why was there so much firepower? Wooten and Chief Deputy Daniel Fogg provided their reasoning in a video posted on Facebook the day after the shooting.
"This is an arrest warrant on felony drug charges. Mr. Brown was a convicted felon with a history of resisting arrest," Fogg said.
According to state Department of Public Safety records, Brown has been convicted on 12 felony drug charges, 12 charges of driving with a revoked license and 12 other misdemeanors since 1996. His last conviction was four years ago, and he was released from prison in August 2018.
Brown also has been charged 10 times with resisting arrest in the past 24 years. He was found guilty five times. On two other occasions, the charges were reduced, and three times they were dismissed.
But those who have protested in the streets daily since the shooting say Brown's record didn't give deputies the right to shoot him.
"A warrant is not a license to kill, even if a suspect supposedly drives away," said Rev. William Barber, former director of the state NAACP. "A warrant does not mean a person is guilty."
