Virginia man shot by deputy who gave him ride home earlier in the day
A man in Virginia was shot by the same sheriff's deputy who had given him a ride home earlier in the day.
Isaiah Brown, a 32-year-old Black man, received a ride home from a deputy at 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday after his car broke down, according to NBC Washington.
The same day, he called 911 over a dispute with his brother.
The same deputy responded to the 911 call, and Brown was shot while holding a cordless phone, according to the outlet.
The Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office released footage of the encounter on Friday as well as audio of the 911 call that preceded it in a video.
According to the audio recording, Brown called because his brother wouldn't let him into his mother's room to retrieve car keys.
Brown then threatened to kill his brother.
Several minutes into call, Brown said he was walking down the road with his house phone and that he did not have a gun.
In the recordings of the incident, however, the deputy stated that Brown had a "gun to his head." He demanded to see Brown’s hands and that Brown drop the gun.
The officer then screamed, “Stop! Stop!” before appearing to fire at least six shots. After the shots, the deputy repeated his demands for Brown to show his hands and drop the gun.
The law enforcement officer then began to perform "lifesaving measures" on Brown, seen in the video lying in the street.
David Haynes of The Cochran Firm, who is representing Brown, said in a statement to The Hill that “it is evident that the tragic shooting of Isaiah Brown was completely avoidable.”
“Isaiah is now fighting for his life as a result of these completely avoidable errors by the deputy and dispatch,” Haynes said.
Brown was reportedly shot six times in the abdomen during the encounter.
The shooting comes after several Americans of color in the past week have been shot, sometimes fatally, by police.
North Carolina authorities said Wednesday that Andrew Brown Jr. was fatally shot after police attempted to serve him a warrant for felony charges.
Another Black American, 16-year-old Ma’Khai Bryant, was fatally shot four times by police after she lunged at another person. The officer who fired his weapon, Nicholas Reardon, said that she had a knife.
The shootings came the same week that a jury in Minneapolis convicted former police officer Derek Chauvin of murder and manslaughter charges in the death of George Floyd in May.
