DA Won't File Charges in December's Deadly Shooting of Motorist By Phila. Police
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia's district attorney says there will be no charges filed against the police officer who used deadly force in mid-December against a Philadelphia man.
DA Seth Williams today announced that no charges will be filed against the officer.
Brandon Tate-Brown was fatally shot in the head in Northeast Philadelphia. According to investigators, he struggled with police officers who stopped him for not having his headlights on. Williams says Tate-Brown was reaching for an illegal gun in his car when the officer shot him.
The officers were cleared in an internal police investigation of using excessive force, but Tate-Brown's mother was adamant that the police had used unnecessary force on her son. She challenged even the notion that he hadn't had his headlights on, and called for release of video in the case, which was not forthcoming because the DA's office was still looking at it.
But now, DA Williams says his conclusion is that the fatal shooting was a tragedy but not excessive use of force.
He showed -- but did not release -- dark, grainy video that he says shows Tate-Brown going for a gun on the passenger side of his car just before he was shot.
But Tate-Brown's mother, Tanya Dickerson, says she sees something completely different.
"I'm telling you, I saw my son nowhere near the right side, and he never got to open the right side of that car door," she told reporters late this afternoon. Dickerson says she's appalled that no charges are being filed. She continues to seek a US Justice Department investigation into whether Tate-Brown's civil rights were violated. She says she is disillusioned with the justice system here and plans to relocate outside of Philadelphia.