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The family of Andrew Brown Jr. has filed a $30 million lawsuit that alleges the officers who killed the North Carolina resident violated his civil rights. Furthermore, the lawsuit states the responding officers who killed Brown Jr. showed an “intentional and reckless disregard of his life."
Brown Jr. was killed in the driveway of his home in Elizabeth City, North Carolina on April 21. At the time of the shooting, officers had arrived at his home to serve a warrant for a drug-related offense. As they were serving the warrant, Brown Jr. attempted to back out his driveway and officers moved to surround him. Brown Jr.'s attempt to exit his driveway was met with a barrage of bullets and he was killed by a bullet to the back of the head.
In the days and weeks that have followed the killing of Brown Jr., lawyers for the Browns have maintained that the shooting was unjustified because Brown Jr. was trying to leave his residence. In contrast, Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten II “has no comments on the lawsuit.”
“This lawsuit was easy to draft because of the facts in this case,” attorney Harry Daniels said.
“Anybody can see that this was an unlawful killing.”
The Browns are the latest in a growing list of Black families who have lost a family member to police violence. Last September, the city of Louisville settled a lawsuit with the family of Breonna Taylor for $12 million. More recently, the city of Minneapolis settled a lawsuit with the family of George Floyd for $27 million. If the Browns receive the settlement they are seeking, it would be the largest settlement for a police killing in modern American history.
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