Seth Williams calls mother of Brandon Tate-Brown

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams on Tuesday called the mother of a 25-year-old Frankford motorist killed by police after a traffic stop last year to explain his office's investigative process in the case.

A spokesman for Williams said the district attorney also offered his condolences to Brandon Tate-Brown's family. At the same time, however, Williams declined to release video showing the shooting because it is still considered evidence in an ongoing investigation.

Tate-Brown's mother, Tanya Dickerson-Brown, and her attorney, Brian Mildenberg, have called for authorities to release more evidence in the case, which has sparked protests.

"The only way for us to understand the entire encounter is for the police to release the rest of the evidence and the police officers' statements from that night," Mildenberg said Monday night.

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, who did not return a call for comment Tuesday, has said that video of the shooting, along with testimony from independent witnesses, is consistent with the officers' accounts of the incident. According to the officers, they pulled over Tate-Brown's 2014 Dodge Charger on the night of Dec. 15 on the 6600 block of Frankford Avenue because he had been driving with his headlights off.

Police have said that after Tate-Brown was pulled over, the officers noticed a handgun - which was later determined to have been stolen - in the Charger's center console, and ordered him out of the car. When he did so, a struggle ensued.

Police have said Tate-Brown, who worked for Hertz and had been driving a rental, broke free from the officers' grasp, ran to the Charger, and reached for the gun. That's when he was shot.

Mildenberg said he has obtained video from a 7-Eleven store 11/2 miles from the site of the shooting that shows Tate-Brown was driving with his headlights on that night.

The department Tuesday night challenged that assertion.

"The department has thoroughly investigated this incident, therefore, this video isn't some breaking development, nor is it the video of the particular incident," police spokesman Lt. John Stanford said in an e-mail.

"Perhaps if those so quick to point out irrelevant video would just allow the investigation and review to take its course, they could make an educated determination based on all evidence and not just what they want to see. We have been committed to the integrity of this investigation from the very beginning and that fact isn't going to change."

This month, the department determined that the two officers involved in the shooting had not violated any departmental policy. Both were allowed to return to street duty.

Dickerson-Brown said Tuesday that seeing videos of her son being shot has dredged up painful memories. "It is almost as if I just found out my son died," she said.

She said she had been "overwhelmed" by support in the months since her son's death, including Saturday's protest outside Police Headquarters.

"It spoke volumes, that I actually had at least 100 out in that blizzard with me," she said.

215-854-2961 @aubreyjwhelan