A Black city council member in North Carolina said that he caught a law enforcement officer urinating outside of the funeral home he owns as an act of harassment for his participation in protests following the fatal police shooting of Andrew Brown Jr.
Elizabeth City Councilman Gabriel Adkins said that at least one uniformed sheriff’s deputy came to his business on two separate occasions last week and urinated on his property. Adkins shared a video online of what appears to be an officer in uniform relieving himself outside of a shed on the funeral home’s property.
“Since this case with Andrew Brown, I’ve been out protesting,” he told The Raleigh News & Observer. “I really feel like they are retaliating back against me. Maybe they didn’t know I had surveillance, but it’s a funeral home.”
As Blavity previously reported, Brown was shot and killed in late April by deputies while he was complying with the command of officers, who were executing a search warrant. According to witnesses, Brown was driving away when deputies fired several shots at him. First responders can be heard in dispatch audio detailing that a man had sustained gunshot wounds to the back, CNN reports.
On Tuesday, prosecutors announced they would not be levying charges against any of the officers, citing that the shooting was "justified" because Brown had used his car as a "deadly weapon" against officers. According to The Hill, video was shown by prosecutors that depicted Brown trying to drive away from the officers. Periodically throughout the video, Brown drives toward officers who are positioned in front of his car.
Lawyers for Brown’s family said the man’s relatives described the shooting as an execution after seeing a clip of the video, Blavity reported.
"They were shooting and saying 'Let me see your hands!' at the same time," Channel Cherry-Lassiter, an attorney for the family, said on Monday. "He wasn't reaching for anything, he wasn't touching anything, he wasn't throwing anything around."
Reputable civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is also representing the family, said they were only allowed to view a snippet of the footage that had been compiled from at least nine cameras.
"We do not feel we got transparency. We only saw a snippet of the video," he said. "They were going to show the whole video, then decided at the last minute they were going to redact it."
Details of the 42-year-old’s death have been limited and the family is demanding that the city releases the video and audio in full.
Adkins, who has organized demonstrations in response to Brown’s shooting, shared with The News & Observer that he is seeking legal assistance and aims to press charges.
“I’m just getting real worried I might be the next target, or they’re trying to set me up, on top of it being a crime," he said.
Adkins' funeral home is located about three miles outside of the city borders. Before Brown was killed, the city council member said deputies regularly escorted processions at his business. Adkins said he has tried to call police officials regarding the service, but no deputies have been provided since Brown was killed last month.