Lawyer: Video shows Tate-Brown driving with lights on before cops killed him

VIDEO FOOTAGE from a 7-Eleven appears to show Brandon Tate-Brown driving with his lights on shortly before he was stopped by Philadelphia police Dec. 15 for allegedly driving with his lights off - an encounter during which Tate-Brown was fatally shot by cops.

Brian Mildenberg, an attorney for Tate-Brown's mother, Tanya Brown-Dickerson, shared the footage tonight with the Daily News.

Mildenberg said Greg Brinkley and Ed Lloyd, private investigators working for his law firm, obtained the footage from the 7-Eleven, on Frankford Avenue near Dyre Street in Frankford.

It also was viewed tonight by Brown-Dickerson, who confirmed that the young man in the video was her son, Mildenberg said.

"You see clearly that he pulls up in his white car with the headlights on. He gets out, walks into the 7-Eleven, walks around, and then drives off with his lights on the entire time," Mildenberg said.

The Police Department has said that officers pulled over Tate-Brown's 2014 Dodge Charger on Frankford Avenue near Magee because its lights were off. A violent struggle ensued, and Tate-Brown was fatally shot.

The department said that Tate-Brown was shot as he reached into the passenger side of his car to retrieve a stolen, loaded handgun from near the center console.

But Mildenberg told the Daily News last week that surveillance footage he and Brown-Dickerson viewed at the Internal Affairs Division's headquarters showed that Tate-Brown was shot as he ran behind the trunk of the car, nowhere near the passenger-side door or the weapon. The car's lights appeared to be on in that footage as well, he said.

"We know from the video that his headlights were on, and we know that he wasn't reaching for a gun when they shot him," Mildenberg said. "Whether Brandon started the struggle or whether he had a gun is not clear, but we do know [that the Police Department]lied about two items."

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey has contended that other evidence, including statements from four witnesses, supports the department's account.

Mildenberg said he still does not have enough evidence to file a wrongful-death lawsuit.