Isiah Brown (Image Courtesy of
The Cochran Firm)
Want the best of VICE News straight from your inbox? Sign up here. A Virginia sheriff’s deputy allegedly shot an unarmed Black man at least 10 times while he was talking to 911 last week, apparently because the deputy thought the man’s cordless house phone was a gun. Now that man, 32-year-old Isaiah Brown, is “fighting for his life as a result of these completely avoidable errors by the deputy and dispatch,” Brown’s attorney, David Haynes, said in a statement. Brown, who is now on a breathing machine, called 911 early Wednesday morning during a dispute with his brother. The audio from that call, which has been released to the public, revealed that Brown threatened to kill his brother and told a dispatcher that he both had and didn’t have a weapon. When law enforcement responded, a Spotsylvania County sheriff’s deputy found Brown, who was still in the phone with 911, in the middle of a dark road, screamed at him to “drop the gun,” and shot him. The deputy is now on administrative leave. During a press conference Monday, Haynes, who’s with The Cochran Firm in Washington, D.C., described Brown’s condition as “touch and go.” Trauma surgeons have found 10 bullets inside Brown’s body but removed just two so far. Brown’s sister, Yolanda Brown, said he works as a home health aide. She described him as a good person and “the life of the party.”
“I’m numb,” Yolanda said during a press conference. “I think we’re all kind of numb, because like I said, this is my brother, this is an uncle, this is a son, this is a fiance.” Brown said that he called 911 because his brother wouldn’t let him inside his mother’s room, according to body camera footage and 911 audio released by the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office Friday. When the dispatcher asked why that was an emergency, Brown said he also couldn’t get to his car.Brown’s car wasn’t operational, the dispatcher said. A Spotsylvania County sheriff’s deputy—the same one who later shot him—had given Brown a ride home from a gas station about an hour earlier that Wednesday morning after responding to a separate 911 call about a disabled motorist.
“What is the problem?” the dispatcher asked Brown, who could be heard asking for a gun in 911 audio from the call concerning a “domestic situation.”“I’m about to kill my brother,” Brown responded.“Don’t kill your brother,” the dispatcher said.
When asked if he had a weapon, Brown responded both “yup” and “nope,” according to the police transcript of the 911 call. Brown also told the dispatcher that his brother was inside the house, while he was outside walking down the road, according to 911 audio. "After viewing the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's deputy's bodycam video and listening to the 911 call, it is evident that the tragic shooting of Isaiah Brown was completely avoidable,” Haynes said in a statement. “In the 911 call, Isaiah clearly told dispatch that he did not have a weapon more than 90 seconds before the deputy arrived.”The dispatcher told Brown to hold his hands up, at which point sirens could be heard wailing in the background, according to audio from the 911 call. “Show me your hands!” a deputy can be heard saying. “Drop the gun!” The deputy also screamed at Brown to “stop walking toward me.” Then several gunshots rang out. “The deputy was situated nearly 50 feet from Isaiah, was never threatened, and should not have discharged his weapon,” Haynes said in a statement. He also noted that Brown obeyed all police commands given to him. The deputy “immediately rendered life-saving first aid” to Brown following the shooting, according to a video statement from Spotsylvania County Sheriff Roger Harris. Haynes said the deputy was one of two to respond to the incident, and that the other deputy did not shoot Brown. The family is requesting dispatch audio with the deputy leading up to the incident, Haynes said.At the request of the sheriff’s office, the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation's Culpeper Field Office Police Shooting Investigation Team is looking into the incident, according to a statement from the Virginia State Police. Findings from that investigation will be turned over to a special prosecutor, Fredericksburg Commonwealth’s Attorney LaBravia Jenkins.
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“I’m numb,” Yolanda said during a press conference. “I think we’re all kind of numb, because like I said, this is my brother, this is an uncle, this is a son, this is a fiance.” Brown said that he called 911 because his brother wouldn’t let him inside his mother’s room, according to body camera footage and 911 audio released by the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office Friday. When the dispatcher asked why that was an emergency, Brown said he also couldn’t get to his car.
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“What is the problem?” the dispatcher asked Brown, who could be heard asking for a gun in 911 audio from the call concerning a “domestic situation.”“I’m about to kill my brother,” Brown responded.“Don’t kill your brother,” the dispatcher said.
When asked if he had a weapon, Brown responded both “yup” and “nope,” according to the police transcript of the 911 call. Brown also told the dispatcher that his brother was inside the house, while he was outside walking down the road, according to 911 audio. "After viewing the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's deputy's bodycam video and listening to the 911 call, it is evident that the tragic shooting of Isaiah Brown was completely avoidable,” Haynes said in a statement. “In the 911 call, Isaiah clearly told dispatch that he did not have a weapon more than 90 seconds before the deputy arrived.”The dispatcher told Brown to hold his hands up, at which point sirens could be heard wailing in the background, according to audio from the 911 call. “Show me your hands!” a deputy can be heard saying. “Drop the gun!” The deputy also screamed at Brown to “stop walking toward me.” Then several gunshots rang out. “The deputy was situated nearly 50 feet from Isaiah, was never threatened, and should not have discharged his weapon,” Haynes said in a statement. He also noted that Brown obeyed all police commands given to him. The deputy “immediately rendered life-saving first aid” to Brown following the shooting, according to a video statement from Spotsylvania County Sheriff Roger Harris. Haynes said the deputy was one of two to respond to the incident, and that the other deputy did not shoot Brown. The family is requesting dispatch audio with the deputy leading up to the incident, Haynes said.At the request of the sheriff’s office, the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation's Culpeper Field Office Police Shooting Investigation Team is looking into the incident, according to a statement from the Virginia State Police. Findings from that investigation will be turned over to a special prosecutor, Fredericksburg Commonwealth’s Attorney LaBravia Jenkins.
