Virginia deputy mistook cordless house phone for gun in shooting of Black man, attorney says
A Virginia man is in intensive care after a sheriff's deputy shot him ten times outside his home early Wednesday, his family said.
Isaiah Brown, a 32-year-old Black man, was walking down the street away from his house in Spotsylvania County and was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher when the Virginia sheriff's deputy responded to his house following reports of a "domestic incident," according to a police statement, as well as body camera footage and 911 audio.
The footage and audio, which was released late Friday, appeared to show the deputy then yelling “drop the gun,” multiple times and saying over his radio, “he’s got a gun to his head.” The deputy then yells, “stop walking towards me, stop walking towards me” and “stop, stop" before shooting Brown.
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The Virginia deputy mistook a cordless house phone Brown was holding for a gun, David Haynes, his attorney, said in a statement provided to USA TODAY. Brown was unarmed at the time of the shooting and "clearly told dispatch that he did not have a weapon more than 90 seconds before the deputy arrived," he said.
"Isaiah is now fighting for his life as a result of these completely avoidable errors by the deputy and dispatch," Haynes said.
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The release of the recordings comes after family members and the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia demanded they be made public. Up until then, little information had been made available.
Spotsylvania County Sheriff Roger L. Harris said in a video released with the body camera footage that a special prosecutor had been appointed to the case and that the deputy had been placed on administrative leave.
Brown’s family told WRC-TV the same deputy had given Brown a ride home from a gas station after his car broke down earlier that day.
He later called 911 for an unrelated dispute with his brother.
Brown is heard on the call regarding the dispute saying his brother won’t let him into his mother's room in the house, and that he couldn't get into his car. The dispatcher tells Brown that his car is broken down and has been towed.
Brown then says, “alright, give me the gun” to which his brother is heard in the background saying, "no." The dispatcher asks what’s going on, and Brown replied: “I’m about to kill my brother.”
The dispatcher says "don’t kill your brother," and asks Brown multiple times if he’s armed to which he says no. Brown then told the dispatcher he was walking down the road, where the deputy met him.
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The police shooting comes as the nation grapples with issues like racism and police brutality after former Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd last year.
Andrew Brown, Jr., a 42-year-old Black man and father of 7, was shot and killed by North Carolina sheriff's deputies on Wednesday.
Twenty minutes before Chauvin's guilty verdict last week, a police officer shot and killed 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant Tuesday after arriving on the scene to respond to reports of an attempted stabbing in Columbus, Ohio.
Contributing: The Associated Press