Judge won’t release N.C. shooting footage
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.