Attorneys for the family of Andrew Brown Jr. plan to announce they are filing of a $30 million federal lawsuit in Brown’s shooting death by Pasquotank sheriff’s deputies.
Ben Crump, one of several attorneys representing Brown’s children, said on Twitter Tuesday that two other attorneys in the case — Bakari Sellers and Harry Daniels — will announce the filing of the lawsuit in front of the J. Herbert Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Elizabeth City at noon today.
Daniels said Tuesday the wrongful death lawsuit will seek in excess of $30 million in compensatory and punitive damages for Brown’s shooting death by Pasquotank sheriff’s deputies on April 21.
Daniels said the lawsuit will name Pasquotank Sheriff Tommy Wooten, the Pasquotank Sheriff’s Office and all deputies from the Pasquotank Sheriff’s Office involved in Brown’s shooting.
Also named are the Dare County Sheriff’s Office and deputies who work for the office who also were involved in Brown’s shooting death.
Mike Cox, Pasquotank County attorney, had no comment on the impending lawsuit when reached Tuesday.
Wooten did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Three Pasquotank deputies shot and killed Brown as they were attempting to serve drug-related search and arrest warrants at his home on Perry Street in Elizabeth City. The warrants originated in Dare County and Dare sheriff’s deputies accompanied Pasquotank deputies as they were attempting to serve them on Brown.
Limited video footage that’s been released shows Brown attempting to elude arrest by driving his car away from the deputies then three of them fatally shooting him. An autopsy showed Brown was hit twice: once in the arm and, fatally, in the back of the head.
District Attorney Andrew Womble decided in May not to file criminal charges against the deputies, determining Brown’s shooting was justified because Brown had put the deputies’ lives at risk by driving his vehicle toward them.
Brown’s attorneys have disagreed with Womble’s determination, claiming the deputies “executed” Brown as he was trying to get away from them.
Two of the three deputies who fired shots at Brown have returned to duty after being placed on administrative leave. A third resigned.
Brown’s death has sparked daily protests in Elizabeth City. Protesters have gathered or marched every day since Brown’s fatal shooting, organizer Kirk Rivers said recently. Protesters continue to call for full release of the deputies’ body camera and dash camera footage in Brown’s shooting death to both his family and the public, Rivers said.
A Superior Court judge allowed Brown’s family to view a limited amount — roughly 16 minutes of nearly two hours — of video from the deputies’ body cameras and their vehicle’s dash camera. However, Judge Jeff Foster ruled against public release of the video.
After protesting on city streets for much of the past three months, protesters recently began conducting their protests by vehicle, traveling into county neighborhoods. Rivers said protesters have changed the location of their protests to bring their message to a wider audience.
