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Independent Autopsy Shows Andrew Brown Was Shot 5 Times, Once In The Back Of The Head Family
Attorneys for Andrew Brown Jr.'s family, Wayne Kendall, left, and Ben Crump hold a news..
1 Verdict, Then 6 Police Killings Across America In 24 hours
The family of a 42-year-old Black man who died in a bar- rage of bullets fired at his car by North Carolina sheriff's deputies said Tuesday that an independent autopsy shows he was shot five times, including once in the back of the head.
"Monday, I said he was 'exe- cuted.' This autopsy report shows me that was correct," said Brown's son, Khalil Ferebee.
"Monday, I said he was 'ex- ecuted.' This autopsy report shows me that was correct," said Brown's son, Khalil Ferebee.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper issued a statement on Tuesday that called for a spe- cial prosecutor to investigate the shooting.
The announcement came a day after family members were allowed to view what they de- scribed as a 20-second clip from one police body camera of the unarmed Brown being shot to death with his hands on the steering wheel of his car outside his home in Elizabeth City.
Dr. Brent Dwayne Hall,
the former medical examiner for five northwest North Car- olina counties, performed the independent autopsy, the fam- ily's attorney's said.
Wayne Kendall, an attor- ney representing Brown's fam- ily, displayed autopsy graphics pointing out that Brown was shot four times in his right arm. Kendall described those
Andrew Brown Jr. in an un- dated photo.
wounds as glancing wounds that did not kill Brown.
He said the fatal shot hit Brown as he tried to drive away to save his own life. He said a bullet hit Brown at the base of the back of his skull and lodged in his brain.
"He was able to back up, turn the vehicle around, spin off across a vacant lot. And at that time he was hit in the back of he head and that is the fatal bullet wound," Kendall said.
Harry Daniels, another attorney for the family, said he has been told by authorities that three deputies opened fire on Brown's car, including one who reloaded.
Chantel Cherry-Las- siter, one of the family's at- torneys who was allowed to watch the video, said Brown was sitting in his vehicle with his hands on the steering wheel while he was being shot at.
Even as the Derek Chau- vin case was fresh in memory — the reading of the verdict in a Minneapolis courtroom, the shackling of the former police officer, the jubilation at what many saw as justice in the death of George Floyd — even then, blood flowed on America’s streets.
And even then, some of that blood was shed at the hands of law enforcement.
At least six people were fa- tally shot by officers across the United States in the 24 hours after jurors reached a verdict in the murder case against Chau- vin on Tuesday.
A 16-year-old girl in Colum- bus, Ohio.
An oft-arrested man in Es- condido, California.
A 42-year-old man in eastern North Carolina.
The deaths, in some cases, sparked new cries for justice. Some people said they reflect an urgent need for radical changes to American policing — a need that the Chauvin verdict cannot paper over.
As the nation watched the judge read the verdict against Chavuin on last Tuesday af- ternoon, an officer hundreds of miles away was listening over his patrol car radio in a neigh- borhood in Columbus, Ohio.
Minutes earlier, a colleague fa- tally shot a teenage girl.
Body camera footage shows an officer approaching a group of people in the driveway as the teenager, Ma’Khia Bryant, swings a knife wildly. Mo- ments later, the girl charges at a young woman pinned against a car.
The officer fires four shots before Bryant slumps to the ground. A black-handled blade, similar to a kitchen or steak knife, lies on the side- walk next to her.
“You didn’t have to shoot her! She’s just a kid, man!” a man shouted at the officer.
The officer responds, “She had a knife. She just went at her.”
Later, an anguished neighbor yells at officers: “Do you see
why Black lives matter? Do you get it now?”
The government on the fed- eral and state level must step in quickly to stop the police shootings. The circumstances surrounding each death differ widely. Some happened while officers investigated serious crimes. Police say some of the people were armed with a gun, knife or a metal pole. One man claimed to have a bomb that he threatened to detonate. In sev- eral cases, little is known about the lives of those killed and what happened in their final moments.
Among unarmed victims, Black people were killed at three times the rate (224 total killed), only three officers charged in those cases. The av- erage age is 30 and under.
Deputy Shoots Unarmed Man Repeatedly During 911 Call, Officials Say
The Black man shot 10 times by a Virginia deputy who had just given him a ride home is on a breathing machine and in critical condition, an attorney for his family said Monday.
The man, Isaiah Brown, 32, was shot Wednesday by a Spotsylvania County sheriff's deputy who had given him a lift home after his car broke down. He was holding a cord- less house phone outside his home when he was shot, Brown family attorney David Haynes said.
Haynes said Monday that Brown was shot at least 10 times. Two bullets have been removed from his body, and eight remain, surgeons have told the family. "He's on a breathing machine and re- mains in very critical condi- tion," Haynes said, adding
ISAIAH BROWN
that Brown's condition is
"touch and go."
Brown's mother, Jennifer
Brown, said Monday, "My concern at this point is just for my son to hopefully come
home alive."
Haynes asked Sheriff
Roger Harris not to com- ment any further about Brown's condition, saying Harris had downplayed the extent of Brown's injuries.
Brown's family was "in- credulous" that Harris told a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters that the deputy who shot Brown, whom the sher- iff's office has not identified, "actually saved this gentle- man's life."
"I believe that the sheriff was reporting to the fact that he performed CPR, as of course he is required and trained to do. But it is incredi- ble that he would make that statement that he saved his life by rendering CPR after he's the one that shot him 10 times," Haynes said.
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