What Happened To Brandon Tate-Brown?

Citing discrepancies in the details, the family of Brandon Tate-Brown wants his case reopened, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday. Tate-Brown was 26 years old when he was shot and killed by Philadelphia police during a traffic stop in December. Police said they pulled over the car Tate-Brown was driving because its headlights were not on. Authorities said Tate-Brown reached for a gun in the car during the stop, which prompted police to open fire. But Tate-Brown's family disagrees and is currently suing the city of Philadelphia. In their suit, the family claims Tate-Brown was running away from police officers because they assaulted him during the traffic stop.

Tate-Brown's mother, Tanya Brown-Dickerson, has said her son was unarmed at the time of the incident. She told NBC10 that despite a felony conviction in his past, her son was trying to get his life on track when the shooting occurred. In addition to reopening the case, Tate-Brown's family wants the officers involved in the shootings, Heng Dang and Nicholas Carrelli, to be removed from street duty. But District Attorney Seth Williams said late Monday he did not plan to reopen the case, and police commissioner Charles Ramsay said he did not plan to reassign the officers.

In a statement, Williams said:

Tate-Brown had a gun in the car with his DNA on it, tried to get it on more than one occasion and was shot because he put two Philadelphia police officers and everyone else who was at the scene that evening in danger.

The officers involved in Tate-Brown's death gave statements during an internal police department investigation of the incident, but they provided differing versions of events. One account suggested Tate-Brown was around the rear of the car at the time he was fatally shot, rather than reaching into the passenger side door. Those discrepancies prompted the attorney for Tate-Brown's family to file the civil rights lawsuit against the city and urge for the case to be reopened.

A surveillance video was released by Philadelphia officials last week, which showed Tate-Brown running around the back of his car when one of the officers shot at him. That would also seem to contradict the police department's earlier version of events. But the evidence isn't enough, according to District Attorney Williams, who in March announced no charges would be filed against the two officers involved in the shooting. Williams stood by that decision late Monday, describing Tate-Brown's death as "tragic, but not criminal."

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