Judge Jeffrey Foster has ruled that the family of Andrew Brown Jr. will only be able to view 18 minutes of body camera footage connected to his death. The Browns will reportedly view the selected piece of footage at approximately 3 p.m. Family attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter has indicated that a press conference will follow the viewing.
"Because we're continuing to be as transparent as we can under state law, we will be allowing the family members identified in the judge's order to view the specified videos much sooner than the judge's deadline requires," the office of Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten II stated.
With more than two hours of body camera footage, it is confusing to many as to why Foster would only allow the Browns to watch portions of the video. Initially, the family viewed less than 30 seconds of the video. After a public outcry, Foster moved to allow the Browns to see 18 minutes of the video. Officers have denied wrongdoing in the encounter in the incident, but the Browns and members of the community have had to continuously push to see the video. Still, less than 10% of the video has been viewed by anyone other than the police and the judge.
"The sheriff's continued censorship and delays in releasing the footage is an unacceptable attempt to avoid accountability for yet another horrific police murder," Greensboro nonprofit Incarcerated Outreach Network stated.
Adding to the criticism of Jeffrey Foster's decision, many have asked why the video cannot be made available to the public. Foster has argued that releasing such material could jeopardize the ongoing investigation and a potential jury pool if this goes to trial. At this time, the judge has made no indication that the video will be released to the public, but he has said that he would reconsider his decision in the future.
"Seven days [or] 14 days, there should be a matter of policy where the public can expect the footage to be released," Seth Stoughton of the USC School of Law said.
Photo Credit: Getty Images