North Carolina city declares state of emergency ahead of Andrew Brown shooting body camera release

Witnesses say police shot Mr Brown, a Black man, as he was driving away from officers

North Carolina Deputy-Shooting

A North Carolina city and county declared a state of emergency on Monday ahead of the expected release of body camera footage showing yet another police shooting of a Black man, 42-year-old Andrew Brown Jr.

Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed Mr Brown on Wednesday as they attempted to serve him with an arrest warrant, according to the sheriff’s office. Witnesses say police shot Mr Brown as he was driving away from officers.

Elizabeth City, North Carolina mayor Bettie Parker said she expects a “period of civil unrest” once the video is released to the public.

Mr Brown’s family was expected to watch police body camera footage of what happened on Monday morning ahead of a wider public release, but local officials delayed the viewing, citing the need to blur faces “to protect an active internal investigation.”

“We hope this occurs today, but the actual time will be driven by the completion of the redactions,” Pasquotank county attorney R. Michal Cox told WAVY. “We are also continuing to seek transparency within the law and continue our efforts to get a court order that would allow the video to be released to the public.”

Mr Brown’s family called on officials to release the footage.

“Show the tape,” attorney Harry Daniels, who represents the family, said in a press conference on Monday. “If you ain’t got nothing to hide, show the tape.”

The killing came on the heels of two other high profile cases involving police killing Black men. A day before Mr Brown was killed, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, during an arrest for a counterfeit $20 bill last May. On 11 April, as the Chauvin trial was ongoing, police in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright, who was also unarmed, during a traffic stop.

Peaceful protests have continued through the week in Elizabeth City and beyond following Mr Brown’s killing.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents both the Floyd and Wright families, is now representing the Brown family as well.

“It’s clear to us there is something bad on that bodycam video,” Mr Crump told CNN last week. “Transparency is essential.”

A police drug task force had been watching Mr Brown for more than a year, WAVY reported, and officers searched his home the morning he was killed.

Mr Brown’s family said they were told no drugs or weapons had been recovered from his home or his car during searches.

Seven deputes were put on paid administrative leave following the shooting.