ELIZABETH CITY – The Rev. Al Sharpton issued a powerful call for transparency and the release of body camera footage at the funeral Monday for Andrew Brown Jr., a Black man shot and killed by deputies in North Carolina, with the civil rights leader likening withholding the video to a “con” job done on the public.
“I know a con game when I see it. Release the whole tape and let the folks see what happened to Andrew Brown,” Sharpton told mourners in a scorching eulogy at the invitation-only service at a church in Elizabeth City.
“You don’t need time to get a tape out. Put it out! Let the world see what there is to see. If you’ve got nothing to hide, then what are you hiding?” he said, to loud applause.
A judge ruled last week that the video would not be made public for at least a month to avoid interference with a pending state investigation into the April 21 shooting of Brown, 42, by deputies attempting to serve drug-related search and arrest warrants.
An independent autopsy commissioned by his family said Brown was shot five times, including once in the back of the head. Family members who were privately shown a portion of the body camera video say Brown was trying to drive away when he was shot. The shooting sparked days of protests in the city in rural northeastern North Carolina.
Related Stories:
Prosecutor Says Andrew Brown Jr. Hit Officers With Car Before They Shot Him, Contradicting Family
Andrew Brown Jr. was known drug dealer with rap sheet over 180 pages
Other speakers included Brown’s sons as well as civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Brown’s family. Calling Brown’s death an “unjustifiable, reckless shooting,” Crump told mourners the legal team would continue fighting for justice and transparency.
“We are here to make this plea for justice because Andrew was killed unjustifiably, as many Black men in America have been killed: shot in the back. Shot, going away from the police. And because Andrew cannot make the plea for justice, it is up to us to make the plea for justice,” Crump said.
Relatives of other Black men killed by law enforcement officers, including siblings of George Floyd, Eric Garner’s mother and Daunte Wright’s sister also spoke at the service. Bridgett Floyd described the “sleepless nights, long days, heartache and pain” that she knows Brown’s family is facing, having experienced the killing of her brother by a police officer in Minnesota who was later convicted of murder.
After Brown’s funeral, she told reporters it was important for her to come to North Carolina to show support for his family.
“I’m showing them strength right now. If I can do it, they can do it,” she said.
A long line of mourners filed into the church, many wearing white T-shirts with Brown’s image and the words, “Say his name.” In the lobby, a wreath of red and white flowers with a ribbon bearing the message, “Rest in Peace Drew,” referring to Brown’s nickname, stood next to a tapestry with images of him. As the service started, an ensemble sang songs of praise including, “You’re the Lifter,” while mourners stood and clapped.
Family members have said that Brown was a proud father of seven, who was known for entertaining relatives with his stories and jokes.
The FBI has launched a civil rights probe of the shooting, while state agents are conducting a separate investigation. Three deputies who were involved remain on leave. The state’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, has called for swift release of the body camera footage, which must be approved by a judge under state law.
The search and arrest warrants accused Brown of possessing small amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine that he intended to sell. Brown had a criminal history dating back to the 1990s, including past drug convictions.
A prosecutor has said that Brown’s car ran into the deputies before they opened fire, while a family attorney who watched a 20-second clip of the footage disagreed, saying that Brown posed no threat and was driving away from deputies. The sheriff has said his deputies weren’t injured.
During his eulogy, Sharpton slammed the notion that Brown’s past record or actions on the day of the shooting justified violence against him.
“Whatever record Andrew had, Andrew didn’t hurt nobody,” he said, adding: “How do you try and justify shooting a man that was not a threat to you, because he was running away from you?”
Among those attending the service was 40-year-old Davy Armstrong, who said he went to high school with Brown and lived near him while the two were growing up. He said Brown seemed to be doing well when he ran into him recently before the shooting.
“He was very humble, very generous. He said he was doing good,” said Armstrong, who works in construction. “We hear about this on TV all the time. But when it’s someone so well known and so respected, it’s pretty painful.”
After the funeral, 67-year-old Michael Harrell, who lives around the corner from Brown’s house, recalled that he would see Brown playing with his kids in the yard.
“Everything is in God’s hands,” Harrell said of the message he took away from the funeral. “And through God’s hands, truth and justice will be served. People will be held accountable.”
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
© © Copyright 2021, Winston-Salem Journal, Winston-Salem, NC
—-
This content is published through a licensing agreement with Acquire Media using its NewsEdge technology.
Hey, Al try going to Chicago and see if you can end the BLACKS that are KILLING BLACKS. Are you afraid Al, that they won’t listen to you REV? Your race baiting speech on the POLICE shooting Blacks and hunting Blacks is all racial propaganda. You are a very RACIST person and will never change.
Also have you paid your TAXES yet? Biden needs your tax dollars for his BS green programs.
He;ll never go there. NOTHING IN IT for him.
I.A.W. U.S. Census & FBI (Table 43a) Black males make up about 6% of the U.S. population but every year commit ~53% of all the murders and ~55% of all robberies in the U.S… Every year in the U.S. there are ~5,000 African-Americans men, women and children killed and 93% of them were killed by fellow African-Americans.
So I ask you; Black Lives Matter to whom?? It would appear that Black Lives Don’t Matter to other Blacks.
How many bodies do you have to step over to get to the one that you think is important only because a White police officer was involved?
“I know a con game when I see it”. Yep Al Sharpton, “I know a con game when I see it”!!!! All I have to do is look at you, Al!!!! “Andrew Brown Jr. was known drug dealer with rap sheet over 180 pages”. Yep, Al, Andrew Brown Jr. is a fine upstanding citizen. Good riddance to this criminal.
So says the con playing a reverend…
I didn’t mind sharpton when he was the fat clown with the big giant bling necklaces. but then he did that tawana brawley thing and his lies and his hateful stupidity and rank ignorance caused the suicide of a member of law enforcement. then sharpton was no longer entertaining. and he hasn’t been ever since his grotesque morphing into a vicious criminal who projectile vomits hate and stirs up an ignorant illiterate underclass. his following who simply do not know any better or any differently. he is like an emboldened cockroach that no longer skitters when the light is turned on.
Pity we can’t stomp on him, LIKE A real cockroach.
Well, Al is correct about one thing. He knows a Con Game because he’s been running them for 50 years.
He was probably running them on his parents, as a kid!
the ir reverand Al absolutely knows a con game. everything he does is a con game
Hey Al, you dumb ***! YOU are the real CON around here. How much are you wringing out of Brown’s family and friends?? C’mon man, it’s OK, you can tell us, you lying, cheating, scamming fake! You should be in jail!
BTW, have you paid your past due taxes yet? Didn’t think so! U R a US TAX DODGER and DEFAULTER!
Al as usual, you are the con game.
He sees a con, every time he looks in the mirror.. ASSUMING He doesn’t shatter it first!
Two weeks ago he spoke at a large funeral for Daute who’s coffin was covered with a large bouquet of red roses. Last Week Walter Mondale died and no funeral because of Covid-19. In Minnesota a criminal gets a large funeral and a senator and vice-President does not get one!!!!
I wonder, how big was the funeral for all those cops SHOT DURING ALL OF THESE months of rioting??
I feel pretty much the same on Failure to not incarcerate your *** for back taxes
“I mnow a con game when I see it”.
“I see, too, said the blind man”. You and FerraCon—two pees in a urinal. Kist ;ole tjos “Reverend” prefix in your name—spell it—C-O-N.
This isn’t part Spanish—I hit the “submit” tab without proofreading. The first sentence is a quote from the article—I know a con game when I see it.
The second line should be: Just like the . . .
My bad.
And WHO would know better about a “Con Game”, than Al Sharpton?!
Race baiting con-man Al Sharpton showing up at funerals of black criminals is why many people do not take the black community seriously!
If there was ever a “master” who knows about a “con” game, it the person who makes the “by experience” statement as to what is a con game. This “con” has been played for many, many years by this master of the game. Who else can owe millions and millions of back taxes yet is not charged about it nor forced to pay it.
I will say his name al; andrew brown jr., known drug dealer, 180 page rap sheet, hit cops with his car, DEAD! Why was he allowed to play with kids, especially his own? Why is al sharpton not in prison? al better be glad I am not the a.g. Tax law violation is a crime al!
If this was 1821 …Al Sharpton would be standing in a cotton field wielding a whip for his Democrat Slave Masters ..
Old Al would know a thing or two about a “con game” he is a professional con man.
Maybe police union should have held a parallel service commemorating Brown 30-year criminal history as follows.
Several currently pending felonies, prior convictions for drug dealing, communicating threats, violating order of protection, assault, domestic trespass, wanton injury to person or property & multiple drug & property crimes.
Even with all these criminal convictions, including some for violence, Brown never served a day in prison. Why exactly is that?
And we can presume Brown caused deaths by drug overdose during his long history of selling crack, heroin, meth & fentanyl.
May God save us from the now hopelessly corrupt & perverted political, justice & Intel entities & the newly “legalized” rampant terror & criminality across the nation that the blood sucking Marxist dictatorship of the Dem Party & it’s globalist Corp, Tech & media profiteers have imposed on us since, with few exceptions, the Repub Party as a whole doesn’t seem to have the brains, courage or integrity to do so.
I often laugh, and then cry, every time i hear of folks like tat, who have such a long list of crimes and convictions, yet served NO TIME IN jail.. Makes you wonder, WHO THEY WERE kissing the butts of (Or who they were bribing)..