A North Carolina sheriff’s workplace introduced a $3 million settlement on Monday in a lawsuit filed by the household of an unarmed Black man who was shot and killed in his automotive by sheriff’s deputies greater than a 12 months in the past.
The household of Andrew Brown Jr. had filed a $30 million civil rights lawsuit in 2021, saying the person died as a result of officers confirmed “intentional and reckless disregard of his life.”
Brown was killed on April 21 of final 12 months by Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies whereas they have been serving drug-related warrants at his Elizabeth Metropolis house. A number of deputies surrounded Brown in his BMW earlier than his automotive backed up and moved ahead. They fired a number of pictures at and into his automobile. He was killed by a bullet to the again of his head.
District Legal professional Andrew Womble had stated at a information convention final 12 months that Brown used his automotive as a “lethal weapon,” inflicting deputies to imagine it was essential to make use of lethal power. However legal professionals for the Brown household stated the capturing was unjustified as a result of Brown was attempting to drive away — not towards the deputies and that he posed no menace. After viewing physique digital camera footage of the capturing, they stated Brown was sitting in his stationary automotive along with his arms on the wheel when the primary of quite a few pictures was fired.
The settlement was accepted by the Pasquotank County Board of Commissioners. It features a particular $1 million appropriation to associate with $2 million from the county’s insurance coverage coverage, which was equipped by the North Carolina Counties Liabilities Pool, in response to an announcement from the sheriff’s workplace supplied to The Related Press. That quantity is on the restrict of the coverage.
The settlement was reached over a number of weeks final month within the case overseen by a federal Justice of the Peace in U.S. District Courtroom in Raleigh, the information launch stated.
The county’s cost resolves potential legal responsibility in opposition to the defendants and any particular person officers who have been both named or could possibly be named as defendants within the lawsuit, the information launch stated. The household additionally entered right into a stipulation during which it dismisses all claims in opposition to the defendants, particularly Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten II and three sheriff’s deputies, in addition to different potential claims arising from Brown’s demise, the information launch stated.
Brown’s youngsters will share within the proceeds of the settlement as heirs of his property, the sheriff’s workplace stated.
“Andrew Brown Jr. was a loyal father who needed his youngsters to have the issues he didn’t,” stated an announcement from the 5 attorneys representing his household. “Whereas no settlement might ever fill the opening his demise left of their hearts, this settlement is about offering for these youngsters’s futures, securing their schooling and guaranteeing their goals didn’t die with their father.”
On the time, the lawsuit filed by the Brown household was the newest in a string of federal civil rights lawsuits following high-profile police shootings of Black and brown folks. Many led to settlements that usually included cash however specified no request for forgiveness. A few of the lawsuits find yourself in courtroom the place a jury can award large settlements which can be decreased on attraction.
An impartial post-mortem commissioned by the household stated Brown was shot 5 occasions, together with as soon as at the back of the top. Members of the family who have been privately proven a portion of the physique digital camera video afterward stated Brown was attempting to drive away when he was shot. The capturing sparked days of protests within the metropolis in rural northeastern North Carolina.
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