Ten people have been charged with disorderly conduct after they pushed police officers and threw chairs at a Philadelphia community meeting in response to the district attorney’s decision not to press charges in a fatal police-involved shooting.
The public melee occurred after District Attorney Seth Williams decided on Thursday not to file charges against the two Philadelphia police officers who shot and killed 26-year-old Brandon Tate-Brown during a Dec. 15 traffic stop, sparking rage among the group of protestors.
Mr. Williams said in a statement that all evidence stemming from the traffic “indicates that Mr. Tate-Brown, after repeatedly struggling with officers, appeared to be reaching for an illegal handgun at the time he was shot.” The two officers have not been named.
The gun was photographed and recovered from the car immediately after the shooting, according to the statement. Mr. Williams said that he and a team of investigators spent hours reviewing videos, forensics and statements from both the Philadelphia police officers and independent witnesses.
Mr. Williams described the death of Tate-Brown as a tragedy, “but not a crime,” The Associated Press reported.
Court records show that Tate-Brown has an arrest history, which spans from carrying a firearm without a license to criminal attempt of murder of the first degree. A criminal docket shows that Philadelphia County District Attorney ’s Office chose in 2008 not to prosecute Mr. Tate-Brown on those charges.
Protestors who came to Tate-Brown’s defense on Thursday chanted “No justice, no peace, no racist police” and demanded that Mr. Williams and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey release the names of the officers involved in the shooting, The Associated Press reported. No one was seriously injured during the protest.
The mother of Tate-Brown, Tanya Dickerson, told reporters on Thursday that she anticipated avenging her son by filing a civil rights lawsuit, The Associated Press reported.
“Like any mother, I choked and I cried,” Ms. Dickerson said when she found out that charges would not be filed.
• Maggie Ybarra can be reached at mybarra@washingtontimes.com.
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