For the second night in a row, scores of protestors gathered in Elizabeth City, NC demanding police release the body cam footage from the fatal shooting of 40-year-old black man Andrew Brown on Wednesday morning. Chief Deputy Daniel Fogg of Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that its special operations and tactical team was attempting to serve Brown a warrant on drug-related charges.
The community is demanding answers, and they hope the police body camera footage (which police have confirmed exists) will provide at least some of those answers. So far, the district attorney and sheriff have maintained that North Carolina law does not allow them to release the video until they receive a court order.
On Thursday, CNN interviewed one of the organizers of the protests, Kirk Rivers, who called on police to release the footage.
Our response is: release the information. It’s our taxpayers that’ve funded the body cameras. That’s what the body cameras are for. To release it. If there’s something, release it, so that way we know what goes on – come out and talk to us. We’re here taking over four blocks right now. No one’s going because we just want people to come out and talk to us. And then let us know what is taking place.For the district attorney and the sheriff, if there is a law, that does not prohibit them from coming
out and talking to us and letting us know what is taking place and what is going on. But we are now drawing our own conclusion. We feel because of past troubles and past lies that we’ve received from the justice system, we don’t trust them. We feel that if you are 24 hours, 48 hours – you’re getting your story together to present to us. Come out. If there was nothing wrong, they would release it right now. But are they trying to cover up something?
According to an eyewitness, Brown was shot as he was trying to drive away. Police have not said whether or not Brown was armed at the time of the shooting.
You can watch above, via CNN.