A Virginia man who was shot 10 times by a deputy reportedly told a 911 dispatcher he planned to kill his brother.
Isaiah Brown was shot multiple times by Spotsylvania County sheriff’s deputy who mistook the 32-year-old’s cordless house phone for a gun on Wednesday night.
The same deputy gave Brown a ride home after his car broke down at a gas station earlier that night.
The deputy assured Brown’s brother that he was not in any trouble with the law.
A few hours later, Brown called 911 to report a domestic disturbance at his home.
“I’m about to kill my brother,” Brown told the 911 dispatcher.
“Don’t kill your brother,” the dispatcher responded, to which Brown said: “Alright.”
“Somebody needs to come here real quick,” Brown said. He told the dispatcher that he did not have a gun. It is unclear if the dispatcher relayed that information to the deputy.
The Spotsylvania County sheriff’s office released police body camera footage on Friday night following pressure from the news media.
The footage shows Brown walking toward the deputy, who is unidentified.
“Show me your hands,” the cop shouted. “Show me your hands. Show me your hands, now. Show me your hands. Drop the gun. He’s got a gun to his head. Drop the gun now. Stop walking towards me. Stop walking towards me. Stop. Stop,” the deputy said.
Brown was actually talking on the phone with the dispatcher, who asked him how he was able to talk on his house phone outside his home. “Because I can,” Brown responded.
Moments later he was gunned down by the deputy.
Brown is currently in a hospital ICU recovering from non-life-threatening wounds.
The deputy was placed on administrative leave while the investigation is ongoing.
Attorney David Haynes of The Cochran Firm in Washington, D.C, who is representing the Brown family, said Brown “clearly told dispatch that he did not have a weapon more than 90 seconds before the deputy arrived.”
“The deputy in question made multiple, basic policing errors and violated established protocols. The deputy was situated nearly 50 feet from Isaiah, was never threatened and should not have discharged his weapon. The family is also requesting the release of the dispatch audio with the deputy leading up to the shooting. There was obviously a failure of communication between dispatch and the officer which led to this tragic event,” Haynes added.
“Isaiah is now fighting for his life as a result of these completely avoidable errors by the deputy and dispatch,” Haynes said.
