The attorneys for Andrew Brown Jr.’s family have released a statement calling for the Federal Department of Justice to immediately intervene in the case.
Earlier Tuesday (May 18), District Attorney Andrew Womble announced that the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation completed their investigation and none of the officers involved in Brown’s death would be charged. He also called the shooting “justified” and said the officers feared for their lives because Brown drove his vehicle in their direction. “Mr. Brown’s actions caused three deputies to reasonably believe it was necessary to use deadly force to protect themselves and others,” Womble said.
Attorneys Ben Crump, Bakari Sellers, Harry Daniels and Chantel Cherry-Lassiter are calling for the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct an investigation into his death.
“Andrew Brown Jr., his grieving family and this community deserve answers,” the attorneys said in a joint statement. “And they received anything but from D.A. Womble’s attempt to whitewash this unjustified killing. To say this shooting was justified, despite the known facts, is both an insult and a slap in the face to Andrew’s family, the Elizabeth City community and to rational people everywhere. Not only was the car moving away from officers, but four of them did not fire their weapons — clearly they did not feel that their lives were endangered. And the bottom line is that Andrew was killed by a shot to the back of the head. Interestingly, none of these issues were appropriately addressed in today’s press conference.”
“We demand that the court release the full video and State Bureau of Investigation report that will help shed some much-needed daylight on this case and bring a small measure of justice to this family and this community,” the statement continued. “Because we certainly got neither transparency nor justice today. We request that the Federal Department of Justice intervene immediately.”
Last week, the attorneys asked Womble to recuse himself from the case because of his ties to the Elizabeth City Sheriff’s Office. “Womble’s involvement would be a miscarriage of justice for Andrew Brown Jr., his family and the people of Elizabeth City,” said Sellers.