ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — Superior Court Judge Jeff Foster declined Wednesday to release to the public the body-camera footage of the shooting and killing of Andrew Brown Jr. by Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies last week.
Some of Brown’s family will be allowed to view, but not get copies of, the videos. Foster said the videos will be disclosed to Brown’s son Khalil Ferebee, a few immediate family members and one attorney within 10 days.
Officers’ faces, name tags and any other identifying information will be blurred or redacted in those videos, the judge said. There are four bodycam videos and one dashcam video from a vehicle that the family will be able to view.
The videos will be held from release to the family for no less than 30 days and no more than 45 days, which will allow ongoing investigations to be completed, Foster said. The court will consider release at that point, depending on any potential charges.
Brown’s family left the courthouse without comment.
The judge heard arguments from lawyers for county officials and media, who petitioned for the release of the footage, at the Pasquotank County Courthouse.
Brown, 42, was shot and killed in his car outside his home in Elizabeth City a week ago as deputies were serving search and arrest warrants related to felony drug charges.
It happened less than 24 hours after Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was convicted of the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man.
The shooting has spurred nightly protests in Elizabeth City, where hundreds of people have demanded footage of the incident be made public.
In court Wednesday, Mike Cox, attorney for Pasquotank County and its sheriff’s office, said the sheriff’s office wants to release the video to the family and the news media, in accordance with the law.
“While the bodycam footage only shows one perspective for a limited period of time, it might give the public some ability to understand what happened that day,” Cox said.
Cox said the release of the footage will not impede the independent investigations by the FBI and North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation in this case.
But Pasquotank County District Attorney Andrew Womble argued against the full and immediate release of the bodycam footage. He said there’s a compelling public interest in accountability, but the release would hinder a fair trial, risk the safety of the deputies and affect active investigations.
Womble, who would be the one to bring criminal charges in this case, said the footage should be released as evidence, if and when there’s a criminal trial.
Womble asked that the judge, who has watched the footage, disclose any portion that he deems appropriate to Andrew Brown’s family when practicable and with any redactions necessary. He argued the video should be released to the family in 30 days, after the SBI has completed its investigation. Womble would then want to have the footage released in open court at a jury trial after charges have been brought.
If no charges are brought, he said he would release the video at a news conference where he explains that decision.
“I want your honor to give me an opportunity to complete this investigation, or the SBI to complete this investigation, let me review it, make my decision,” Womble said. “And then everyone can Monday morning Quarterback me.”
H.P. Williams, an attorney on behalf of unnamed clients, also argued against the release of the footage. But, he said he would not oppose disclosure of the video to the family as long as faces of the officers involved are redacted so that they cannot be identified.
“The officers are very distraught over what happened. They feel for the family of Andrew Brown,” Williams said. “But, as Mr. Womble described to you, we believe that the shooting was justified.”
Speaking for a group of state and national media organizations, Mike Tadych argued that the footage needs to be released to help bring facts to a subject that has generated much speculation and rumor.
They are seeking the release of the recordings of the incident involving Brown from the time they begin to the time of the protests that followed that night.
Tadych also highlighted the national discussion ongoing about police accountability issues as a reason to release the footage.
“The petitioners are not here to indict or vindicate law enforcement. And they are not here to indict or vindicate Mr. Brown,” Tadych said. “They are here in the interest of advocating for transparency in the hopes of aiding the national conversation we find ourselves in about citizens’ interaction with the police.”
Andrew Brown’s family and their lawyers and supporters arrived at the courthouse at 9:45, and lined up outside under the cover of old trees. Brown’s 92-year-old grandmother, Lydia Brown, was the first to enter the courthouse, pushed on a wheelchair.
A crowd of approximately 50 media members, meanwhile, gathered outside — some waiting to gain entry themselves. The hearing was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., but was delayed.
The members of the media remained outside as the hearing began.
On Tuesday, Elizabeth City shared a city-owned video that shows several deputies in tactical gear arriving at Brown’s home in the back of a pickup truck.
The camera, which is mounted on a utility pole along Brown’s street, captures the moments before Brown was shot and killed.
The black pickup truck turns toward the driveway and deputies jump out of the truck bed, yelling “Get your hands up!” the video shows.
After seeing that footage, attorneys for Brown’s family said in a statement that Brown was “brought down by an inflamed modern-day lynch mob.”
“The footage shows an eerie resemblance to what we saw in Ahmaud Arbery’s modern-day lynching, except these were no vigilantes — these murderers were on the clock as law enforcement,” the statement said.
They hope the bodycam footage will help hold the officers responsible for Brown’s death accountable.
