D.C. police have released body-camera footage showing the moments after a federal agent shot at an unarmed man during an October traffic stop in Northeast Washington — a case that fueled local outcry after the gunfire was not disclosed in an initial police report.
The videos do not capture the shooting itself, which federal officials have alleged came after the driver made a “deliberate attempt” to run officers down, an account the driver’s attorneys dispute. Instead the footage shows the perspectives of two D.C. police officers who were on the scene.
The release comes after the D.C. Council passed legislation last month compelling the local police department to release body-camera footage when federal officers use force and a D.C. officer is present amid ongoing scrutiny of federal law enforcement’s increased presence in the city. The local department cannot require federal agencies to release their officers’ body-camera footage.
Attorneys for Phillip Brown, the unarmed man whom they say bullets narrowly missed, said Tuesday the video contradicts law enforcement statements that the Homeland Security Investigations agent was in danger when he shot at Brown.
The short clip “underscores what attorneys for Mr. Brown asserted since the shooting — he was nearly killed by his own government for no reason,” Bernadette Armand and E. Paige White said in a statement.
D.C. police said the incident unfolded in the 3900 block of Benning Road NE around 8:45 p.m. on Oct. 17, when D.C. police were patrolling with federal agents and attempted a traffic stop on the driver of a white Dodge Durango for having an illegal tint and no front license plate. The driver struck the rear of a vehicle in front of it during the stop, police said. A Homeland Security Investigations agent then “discharged their service weapon multiple times, striking the Durango.”
The suspect was not struck by the gunfire, the department said.
The video released Monday shows little of the events that preceded the shooting. In a clip, one D.C. officer is seen exiting a police car immediately before gunshots ring out, then briefly returning to their vehicle.
Multiple officers yell and curse at Brown to get out of his car and turn the vehicle off, the video shows. Then footage shows Brown laying on the ground next to the Durango, complying with officers’ orders.
An officer is seen dragging Brown along the ground, and then others converge on him to handcuff him.
“What’s wrong? What the f— did I do?” Brown can be heard saying on the footage.
“Relax,” one officer replied as they put cuffs on him.
“[You] just shot at me,” Brown said.
Following the shooting, Brown’s attorneys provided The Washington Post with photos of bullet holes in the driver’s side window and passenger seat of the vehicle, along with a bullet hole in the collar of Brown’s jacket.
Brown’s lawyers also accused city police of misconduct, pointing out that a D.C. police officer told a judge in the fall that he was advised by a “unit team lead” not to document the shooting in a court record. Pamela A. Smith, who was D.C.’s police chief at the time, denied that D.C. police had tried to cover up any details of the shooting.
Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin previously said that the special agent who fired at Brown was “in fear for his life” after Brown made a “deliberate attempt” to run officers down. A D.C. police officer, however, testified that no law enforcement officers were standing at Brown’s car, and Brown’s attorney told a judge that the bullets entered the car from the side, not the front.
The body-camera footage released Monday does not show any officers in front of the Durango.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the video release Tuesday.
Brown was initially charged with fleeing from a law enforcement officer but a judge dismissed the charge, citing lack of evidence. Federal prosecutors opted not to press charges against the HSI agent because the bullets did not strike Brown.
The October incident was one of two cases last year where HSI agents shot into cars in the District.
Less than a month after Brown’s arrest, an HSI agent patrolling with D.C. police fired his weapon again during a car chase, records show. On Nov. 13, local police and federal officers attempted to stop a silver Nissan Altima, after they saw the driver run a red light at the intersection of Pennsylvania and Minnesota Avenues SE.
A chase ensued, initiated by the federal agents, a police report said. D.C. police are prohibited from chasing cars unless a driver is suspected of committing a violent crime or putting other lives in danger; a bill moving through Congress would roll back those restrictions.
The Nissan Altima was stopped by heavy traffic in the 3400 block of Benning Road SE, according to the report, and law enforcement exited their cars to approach. The driver put the car in reverse and struck a D.C. police vehicle, a court filing stated, and the federal agent shot at the car “at some point in this interaction.”
Then the Nissan Altima drove off again, and the chase continued until the driver collided with a car not involved in the pursuit.
No one was injured, according to police, and no D.C. police officers were involved in the shooting. The Altima’s driver, Justin Nelson, was charged with felony assault on a police officer, fleeing law enforcement and leaving after colliding, among others. He is being held without bond, after rejecting a plea offer, and faces a jury trial later this month.
Federal prosecutors also declined to press charges against the HSI agent in the shooting.
D.C. police did not release footage from the November incident, according to a letter written by Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Lindsey Appiah, saying the subject of the shooting objected to the video becoming public.
Both of the shootings sparked concern among D.C. residents and activists about the way D.C. officers were patrolling with federal agents as part of a task force convened by President Donald Trump.
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