Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Police in Tate-Brown shooting back on street duty

The Philadelphia police officers involved in the December shooting death of 26-year-old Brandon Tate-Brown returned to street duty several weeks ago after being cleared by the department, Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said Wednesday.

Brandon Tate-Brown's family has maintained that the shooting was not justified and has pleaded with the Police Department to release surveillance video footage of the incident.
Brandon Tate-Brown's family has maintained that the shooting was not justified and has pleaded with the Police Department to release surveillance video footage of the incident.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez/Staff Photographer

The Philadelphia police officers involved in the December shooting death of 26-year-old Brandon Tate-Brown returned to street duty several weeks ago after being cleared by the department, Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said Wednesday.

The Internal Affairs investigation has been turned over to the District Attorney's Office for review, Ramsey said. Citing that pending review, a spokesman for District Attorney Seth Williams declined to comment Wednesday.

Tate-Brown's death has been a local rallying point for people participating in the nationwide protest marches and "die-ins" that followed the grand-jury decisions last year not to indict police officers involved in the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y.

Tate-Brown's family has maintained that the shooting was not justified and has pleaded with the Police Department to release surveillance video footage of the incident.

Brian Mildenberg, an attorney representing Tate-Brown's family, called on the department to release its evidence in the case.

"We don't know if this was a proper shooting or an improper shooting. We won't know until they release the evidence," Mildenberg said.

According to the department's initial account of what happened, two officers from the 15th Police District stopped Tate-Brown about 2:45 a.m. Dec. 15 in the 6600 block of Frankford Avenue in Mayfair because he was driving without headlights.

The department said the officers saw a handgun in the center console, then ordered Tate-Brown out of the car.

A struggle ensued, the department said, and Tate-Brown allegedly broke free from the officers and tried to retrieve the handgun through the passenger side of the car.

One of the officers shot him in the head and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police later said the gun had been reported stolen.

"This is a clear-cut good job," said John McNesby, president of the union representing city police officers.

McNesby said the officers' lives clearly were in danger during the stop. He predicted that the officers would be cleared by the District Attorney's Office.

Ramsey said the Internal Affairs investigation concluded that the two officers had not violated departmental policy.

Video footage recovered from the scene and information from two civilian witnesses were consistent with the officers' account of the encounter, he said.

The footage was "not very high quality," he said, but "well enough to see" it was "consistent with what the officers were saying."

Ramsey spoke with Tate-Brown's mother, Tanya Brown-Dickerson, on Wednesday.

"It's on me that I didn't contact her earlier. I should have," he said.

Brown-Dickerson has said that she learned from a news report that her son had been killed. At a community meeting last week, Deputy Commissioner Kevin Bethel offered her a public apology.

Ramsey said he was open to the family's request to see the surveillance video of Tate-Brown's death.

Since the District Attorney's Office is now handling the investigation, he said, he would have to check with that office first.

Ramsey expressed sympathy for Tate-Brown's family and stressed the importance of a thorough review of such cases, with independent input from the District Attorney's Office.

"Each time a life is lost, it's very, very unfortunate," he said. "And I really always feel for a family who loses someone."