D.A. releases narrative of investigation into police shooting

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams gave the following summary Thursday of the investigation into the shooting of Brandon Tate-Brown following a traffic stop at 2:45 a.m. Dec. 15 in Mayfair:

Two officers had pulled over Tate-Brown's Dodge Charger because its running lights - dimmer than headlights - were on, while the actual headlights were off.

"I figured he just came out of a store or something and we [were] just going to check to see if [he] was OK to drive and tell him to turn his lights on," the shooting officer's partner told investigators.

Tate-Brown gave them the car's paperwork after they asked five times. The car was from Dollar Rental; Tate-Brown told them it was from Hertz. Williams said the officers did not realize both were owned by the same company.

They ran the paperwork and went back to the car, Williams said - and that's when the officer who would shoot Tate-Brown saw a gun wedged between the passenger seat and the center console of the car.

His partner said the officer mouthed "gun" to him, and he was unsure whether the gun was on Tate-Brown or in the car.

"I ordered the male out of the vehicle. He then turns his back to me and makes a move toward the passenger side of the vehicle, attempting to go over the center console," he told investigators.

Tate-Brown did get out of the car, but struggled when the officer tried to put his arms behind his back, the partner said. "He refused and began fighting me and my partner."

One civilian witness said that the fight continued for several minutes, and that both officers were on the ground at one point. Tate-Brown broke away from the officers several times. At one point, the partner said, "he was partially in the vehicle and I pulled him out by his shirt."

Two witnesses told authorities Tate-Brown was shot while reaching into his car.

"He could have run away again, but instead, he went around the car to the passenger side. It seemed like he was trying to get something out of the car. . . . If the officer didn't shoot him, the guy was definitely getting in the car," the witness said.