Pasquotank Deputy 'altered' His Weapon After Shooting Andrew Brown

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — The family of an Elizabeth City man who was killed by Pasquotank County deputies in April has updated their lawsuit over the fatal shooting to include allegations that one deputy "altered" his gun before investigators could check it as evidence.Andrew Brown Jr., 42, was shot and killed on April 21 by deputies trying to arrest him on drug charges and serve a warrant to search his Elizabeth City home and car. Brown was trying to drive away when he was shot, and he died from a wound to the back of his head.The lawsuit, originally filed in July, seeks at least $31 million in compensatory and punitive damages, alleging wrongful death, excessive force, assault and battery and gross negligence.

Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten, three of his deputies and his insurance company are named as defendants. Four other deputies and Dare County Sheriff Doug Doughtie have been dropped as defendants in the updated lawsuit.

The three deputies who remain as defendants – Investigator Daniel Meads, Deputy Robert Morgan and Cpl. Aaron Lewellyn – were the only ones to fire their weapons during the encounter, according to the lawsuit.

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Meads fired seven shots from his Glock handgun, Lewellyn fired four shots from his Glock handgun and Morgan fired four shots from his AR-15 semiautomatic rifle. A round from the assault-style rifle was the shot that killed Brown, according to the lawsuit.

District Attorney Andrew Womble has cleared the three deputies of any wrongdoing. He said the shooting was justified because Brown used his car as a deadly weapon and put their lives in danger.

Attorneys representing Brown's family have argued that federal courts have ruled that it's unconstitutional to shoot at people who are driving away. The lawsuit also contends that Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office policy discourages deputies from firing at or into moving vehicles and that neither of the two highest-ranking officers at the scene fired their weapons because they didn't view Brown as a threat.

After the shooting, as deputies searched Brown's house, Meads asked another officer "to shine his flashlight on Defendant Meads while in a dark room inside Brown’s house so Defendant Meads could count the remaining rounds in the magazine of his Glock-17," the lawsuit states. The other officer later told investigators that Meads "was stressing out about how many times he fired his weapon at Brown’s vehicle."

Meads also told investigators "that he altered the gun he used to shoot at Brown’s vehicle ... before his weapon was confiscated as evidence," the lawsuit states, adding that the admission came only after investigators told him the incident was recorded on another officer's body-worn camera.

Meads "further manipulated his weapon by removed [sic] all his bullets from his magazine" on the drive back to the sheriff's office, the lawsuit states, adding that he told investigators "he only wanted to count his bullets."

The lawsuit contends that the arrest warrants issued against Brown in Dare County were invalid because they were never signed by a judge and that there was no need to send seven heavily-armed deputies to arrest him because authorities had no information to indicate he had a history of violence against law enforcement.

NO TITLE PROVIDEDBrown's family has seen only about 19 minutes of the more than two hours of video of the incident recorded by four body-worn cameras and one dashboard camera.

But their lawyers said the lawsuit gives them subpoena power to obtain the rest of the video, as well as police reports and the investigative report compiled by the State Bureau of Investigation.

A coalition of media organizations, including WRAL News' parent, Capitol Broadcasting Co., continues to press for the public release of all of the video in the case.

A Superior Court judge ruled the media didn't have the right to obtain the video and also said he wouldn't consider releasing any of the video publicly until after the State Bureau of Investigation and the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office finished their investigations of the shooting. Both investigations were completed months ago.