NO CHARGES: DA Says Andrew Brown Shooting ‘Justified,’ Plays Multiple Body Cam Videos to Back It Up

ELIZABETH CITY – Pasquotank County District Attorney Andrew Womble held a press conference Tuesday saying that the shooting of Andrew Brown, killed while resisting deputies’ attempt to serve a warrant for his arrest, was “justified” action taken in light of the immediate threat Brown (and his car) posed to officers.

The prosecutor played four separate body cam videos at the press conference, each of them capturing the seconds before, during, and after shots rang out. It becomes clear from the video footage below that Brown’s violent attempt to evade arrest, with his car suddenly constituting a deadly weapon and making contact with officers, is what precipitated the eight shots by law enforcement.

This is exactly why the wise reserve judgement in these situations. While ‘cooler heads’ is an admittedly difficult feat for loved ones of the deceased, the instant agitation and usurpation of the killing by the very political forces working to destabilize our country and abolish police should always be regarded with suspicion.

The track record of BLM-magnified “unjustified” police shootings turning out to be completely justified at best, or nuanced non-racially motivated abuse at worst, ought to give the wider public pause when they next see a “Justice for XXX” fomentation.

A consistent factor among many of these politicized shootings is the victim resisting arrest, or otherwise engaged in violence. Here again, Brown was trying to escape a kitted out SWAT-style arrest by stomping on the gas when surrounded by officers with guns drawn commanding him to stop.

As the DA asserted, the death is tragic but the actions were justified considering those circumstances. The video shows it.

That’s not to say there’s no targets for criticism for the interest groups to protest. Brown had a warrant for felony drug charges — the prosecutor even mentioned that Brown was found to have a baggie of meth in his mouth while trying to escape arrest — and the kitted out law enforcement officers are so armed as to wage the ‘War on Drugs’ as it were.

*NOT* violently resisting arrest is the key to not being shot and killed by police officers. That much should be clearly communicated to every young man and woman who needs to hear it, but there’s also something to be said for moving away from the aggressive enforcement of arbitrary laws.