But Superior Court Judge Jeff Foster will allow for the man's immediate family and lawyer to view footage in next 10 days.
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. - A judge on Wednesday rejected bids to have body camera footage of sheriff's deputies shooting Andrew Brown Jr. released to the public — but said the man's family would be allowed to view it.
Superior Court Judge Jeff Foster said turning over footage to news media could affect a potential trial of law enforcement officers who opened fire while serving a warrant on the 42-year-old Black man in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
“The release at this time would create a serious threat to the fair, impartial and orderly administration of justice,” Foster ruled from the bench. “Confidentiality is necessary to protect either an active internal or criminal investigation or a potential internal or criminal investigation.”
But Foster ordered the sheriff to allow Brown's immediate family and lawyer to privately view body-cam footage from four deputies within the next 10 days. He ordered the sheriff to blur faces or name tags of deputies involved before showing footage to Brown's family.
The judge also said he'd revisit the issue in 30 to 45 days once investigations of the incident are completed.
"The court will, in its discretion, consider at that time further release of the video based on the factors as they exist at that time," Foster said.
Brown's family took little solace in Judge Foster's ruling that'll allow only private viewing of footage.
Lillie Brown-Clark, Brown's aunt, said it'll be up to those few people allowed to see the tape to now speak on Brown's behalf.
“Andrew has been deliberately silenced. His voice now will be the cameras and the family and the attorneys. But we must hear what he has to say by looking at those cameras,” Brown-Clark told NBC News at Brown's home Wednesday afternoon.
“And I don’t know why law enforcement people have this weird obsession with killing our Black men. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
In many states, law enforcement footage, such as video shot from the dashboard of police cars or officers' body cameras, is considered a public record, creating a defined, simple path for that to be publicly released.
But that's not the case in North Carolina, which requires a judge's orderto allow such footage to see sunshine.
District Attorney Andrew Womble also said Brown’s car can be seen in footage moving backward and then forward, each time making contact with officers.
“As it backs up it does make contact with law enforcement officers,” Womble said. “At this point, the car is stationary. There is no movement and officers are positioned around the car. The next movement of the car is forward, it is in the direction of law enforcement and makes contact with law enforcement. It is then and only then that you hear shots.”
Attorney Michael J. Tadych, who is representing news media outlets, said there is an "absolute public interest" in releasing the recordings.
"The petitioners are not here to indict or vindicate law enforcement. The petitioners are not here to indict or vindicate Mr. Brown,” Tadych said.
“They are here in the interest of advocating for transparency in the hopes of aiding a national conversation we find ourselves in about citizens’ interaction with police.”
Pasquotank County Attorney R. Michael Cox said the sheriff's office supports release of videos.
He said that disclosure will “give the public some ability to understand what happened that day.”
here we go again....sure all cops get up every morning and decide to go out and kill blacks....except we all now this does not happen unless you want to push an agenda
This is crazy and the law needs to change pronto.
1. We know that a top priority for ALL cops, in every state is transparency that can ONLY take place if the video is made a matter of public record and released immediately. The laws in NC need to change IMMEDIATELY, to allow this and people in the state with a few objective brain cells know that this tape MUST BE released ASAP.
2. Not releasing it, reinforces the narrative that the cops are trying to cover things up. In this case, I think that's exactly what they are doing. If the tape exonerated them, we would have seen it weeks ago. I would bet my house that it will NOT exonerate them, which is the main reason for them to not release it. This police department is just giving more ammo to those stereotyping and attacking all the good cops by withholding this tape.
3. The craziest thing of all is that it probably can't be much worse than what we now speculate it shows(because, why else would they hide it) and if it wasn't that bad, by the time you show it, many people will be assuming its really bad and thats what they will see. Then, when they are finally forced to show it, people will automatically be looking for the worst, no matter how bad because they assume the cops having been sending the message "this is really so bad we can't show it" for a month now.
4. Then, they not only judge the cops for the worst interpretation possible but people don't trust them at all for the truth........because they tried to hide it for a month.
mc said:
"here we go again....sure all cops get up every morning and decide to go out and kill blacks....except we all now this does not happen unless you want to push an agenda"
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My educated assessment of the issue of the police's treatment of black folks:
Between mc/far right, who imply that it is virtually no issue and the far left/BLM/Antifa, who imply there is widespread racism resulting in systematic overly abusive treatment. Nowhere near either extreme view.
Examples:
1. Clearly Chauvin is a murderer from my perspective and which Mike has posted plenty. But many on the far right don't agree.
2. The young lady in pink, who is black, being saved from a stabbing in Ohio from a 16 year old black girl, who was shot and killed by a cop. I say the police handled it very well. But many on the far left think the cop should have used a taser or at least shot her in the leg. I think they're wrong as this was all happening in a split second and a stabbing was imminent. Furthermore, there couldn't have been anything racial about this as both girls were black!
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I'm proud of my being a moderate. It allows me freedom to assess each issue/event objectively since I don't have the tribal ball and chain to limit me. I get criticized from both extremes depending on the issue. That's a sure sign of being a moderate.
you can pretend all day long how great it is to be a moderate, But there is tons of evidence that someday when the wheat must be separated from the chaff that the moderate will have to choose, make a decision, take a side, show some back bone and stand up, any phrase you want...someday something is going to come around and hit you like a locomotive. Many describe a moderate as taking the easy way out. How about abortion, want to start there. Where is the moderate at about 3 months or having live babies in clinics that wind up dead after birth?
Thanks much Larry!
We especially appreciate you being a moderate too. What's your moderate take on this story?
I was giving the cops the benefit of the doubt initially but they have been covering this up for far too long and now, we are at the point of all knowing this is a big cover up.
It's just a matter of how bad it was.
Keep in mind that this is me. So if I have this opinion, they must be pretty bad and are exactly the kind of cops we need the heck out of here so that all the good ones don't look bad!
Taking down the cops(good ones too)
13 responses |
Started by metmike - April 21, 2021, 7:26 p.m.
"someday when the wheat must be separated from the chaff that the moderate will have to choose, make a decision, take a side, show some back bone and stand up"
mcfarm,
I appreciate your sincere view but disagree.
This is NOT always about taking one side and always going with that side, no matter what. That philosophy is what's destroying our country.
If we did this, then there would never be any bad cops that got weeded out............sometimes they do break laws and need punishment.
Every issue on almost everything does not always have to be only one side is right.
Biden is making some awful decisions for our country right now in my opinion, however, I like it that he withdrew from Afghanistan. I like it that he's trying to help other countries. I like it that he will do something to fix a really broken health care system. I like it that he is going to help homeless people.
On those items mcfarm, why should I not like those things? There are many really bad things too but why can't we see the good and bad from each side and not just one side representing everything good and the other side standing for everything bad?
Or each event, always interpreted with political bias, told to us from the extreme news sites that tells us the news the way that we like to hear it.
Fox NEVER says anything good about Biden.
CNN, CNBC NEVER said anything good about Trump.
People go to those sites to get the news the way they like to hear it. It's just feeding the divisiveness in our country more and more.
And the worst of all by a wide margin are the politicians.............battling for power..ends justifies the means...........winner takes all.
Their side always represents altruism and truth and justice and the best for Americans while the other side is evil and conniving and liars and has nothing but destructive policies.
Since most people, like you mcfarm, identify with a party, you are taught to be this way, conditioned behavior.
They want YOUR support when its time to vote, so to win it, they have all sorts of schemes and narratives and marketing strategies to get you to align with everything that they represent and reject everything the "other side" represents.
If they present the other side in a positive way...........they might lose voters. If they destroy the credibility of the other side, they might gain voters.
It's all about getting political power and we are just votes to them.
mc said: "you can pretend all day long how great it is to be a moderate, But there is tons of evidence that someday when the wheat must be separated from the chaff that the moderate will have to choose, make a decision, take a side, show some back bone and stand up, any phrase you want...someday something is going to come around and hit you like a locomotive. Many describe a moderate as taking the easy way out. How about abortion, want to start there. Where is the moderate at about 3 months or having live babies in clinics that wind up dead after birth?"
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mc,
1. I'm not pretending.
2. I don't need to "take a side"? I assess each issue individually (at least those I understand and am interested in). I have a brain and I'm going to use it. I don't care about the "party line". I care about "my line".
3. I used to lean toward the GOP as I voted GOP for POTUS 8 times in a row through Romney. But I haven't become a Dem. I'm independent.
4. Show some back bone and stand up? I most certainly do and have posted as such. I'm a free thinker who is not easy to predict. For someone like you or anyone on either extreme, I can predict with ease their stands on most issues.
5. "Many describe a moderate as taking the easy way out".
There's nothing easy about carefully assessing each issue. So, I'd argue it is the opposite.
6. I used to be pro-choice, but I abruptly changed on seeing my nephew to be's ultrasound at 3 months. I was surprised at how much he had already developed. So, then I realized 3 months was too far out to allow a fetus to be aborted. Then I asked myself how can a line be drawn as far as how far out an abortion should be legal? I decided it really can't and I suddenly became pro life other than for very few exceptions.
Mike,
I have no opinion right now because I haven't had a chance to assess what happened. Sorry.
If i later get time, I'll assess it and see if I have a strong opinion one way or the other.
Thanks for the comments Larry.
mcfarm, with regards to backbone. I think it takes far more back bone to go AGAINST what those around you present when you know they are wrong.
The trick today, is being able to tell right from wrong. Most people go to their favorite news sources and let them tell them the news the way they like to hear it...........instead of taking the time to objectively analyze each situation and being able to recognize when their favorite source is full of crap.
If you think that doesn't happen at your site(your as in everybody reading this) , then you just have not obtained the fact checking skills that would allow you to be adept at doing that.
Most people don't even have that ability anymore because we've been completely conditioned to relying on other entities to give us the interpretations of how we should perceive everything..............or, at least, look to them for reinforcement of our own views.
This is profoundly true in society today for millions of people.
This is the anti scientific method.
The authentic scientific method, as Larry knows, is for the scientist(or others) to look for reasons for why their theory or belief might BE WRONG!
When you can't prove it wrong............only then can you have confidence that it's RIGHT.
It's human nature with cognitive bias/confirmation bias to do the exact opposite of using the scientific method.
We often, only look for reasons for why we are right. We interpret new information based on it lining up with what we think that we already know and use it to reinforce what we think that we know..............even if the new information is wrong/false.
This is what people from the 2 political parties do all the time. They see only their side as being right.
What really takes backbone, mcfarm is to not just believe something because it lines up with your belief system.......but instead, to look, sincerely for why it might be wrong. Then, when you see that your side is wrong, to stand up for what's right.
Neither side has a franchise on the truth.
"and the worst of all are the politicians"....MM.....no truer words were ever spoken but we have known this for years have we not. And yet every election rolls around and bingo the dance starts again. Might add the press nowadays to the worst ever list.
I have thoughts for moderates but have no time now.
Larry,
Good for you inchangimg to pro life after witnessing the reality yourself.
This issue, sadly has been seen as an entirely religious issue, as if having God define life, means that, taking God out of equation, allows you to define life however you want.
If you care anything about authentic science or medicine ....then life begins.....when life begins.
Not when the 9 month old, well developed baby/child finishes that phase of development by leaving her/his mothers body.
Our youngest son was born almost 2 months early. They induced labor because my wife was so sick. We waited until it was safe enough to get him out of the risky environment.
He was in special care for a week to make sure everything was ok but did great from the get go.
Sad to think that others didn’t even think that he was a human being because their subjective, anti science definition of a human being tells them he was just growing tissue.
When he came out, he became a human being in their eyes but babies just like him that continued to grow inside their moms.....are still just tissue that can be disposed of because it’s part of moms body and not a real person.
This is make believe, political science. Just like the fake climate crisis is make believe political science.
People who have decided these things ....refuse to look at the authentic data and scientific facts, often considering themselves, enlightened intellectuals using modern science to define their world and people that disagree are often characterized as religious zeolite...in the case of prolife.
Science is science. Data is data. Laws of physics and nature and medicine and photosynthesis and such are irrefutable laws.
humans redefining those laws for political agenda and personal convenience or self serving justifications/benefits don’t change the truth of those laws.
A person on board with doing this might be offended by reading this statement but I understand where you/they are coming from,.
They were taught to think this way and once that you think that you know something, all new information is processed based on what you think that you know. This is human nature.
All we can do is hope for people to try to escape from this human limitation that continually sabotages are ability to learn new things and embrace truths that surround us but it’s like our brains have not been taught the language of those truths and are unable to interpret them.