NEW DETAILS: "A fight. Not a Struggle." Philadelphia Police Officer Discusses Brandon Tate-Brown
The producers of 900AM-WURD were nice enough to upload this portion of their Wednesday morning show at my request so that we can listen to one of the first times Philadelphia Police have publicly addressed Brandon Tate-Brown.Â
Philadelphia police officer, Lieutenant John Stanford joined the Philadelphia radio station to discuss, among many other things, Brandon Tate-Brownâs case.Â
A few quick thoughts about the interview:Â
The discussion about him begins at 11:40 to about 14:13. Listen to it in full here. Â
In summary, this is John Stanfordâs walkthrough of what happened on December 15, 2014:Â
Brandon Tate-Brown was pulled over for headlights being out.Â
Officers approached, as typical, to ask for vehicle information.Â
The approaching officer saw a butt of a gun, then âmotioned to his partner.â They, then, asked a compliant Brown to get out of the car and continued to question him.Â
According to Stanford, when they attempted to place him under arrest, Brown began to fight the officer. âFighting with him to the point of, not a struggle, but fighting.â Stanford emphasized.Â
Stanford says Brown made an attempt to get back to the passenger side door of the vehicle âseveral timesâ.Â
"Why would you make an attempt to get back to the passenger side?" Stanford questions.
*bites tongue, for now.*Â
Officer Stanford continues, âHe reaches for the handgun which is in that center area forcing the officer to fire his weapon.â
And thatâs when Brandon Tate-Brown was killed.
My take on what was said:Â
Iâm still very concerned.Â
To me, this version of events still doesnât jive. Maybe even more so with these new nuggets of info.Â
Officer Stanford questions why Brown would run back to the passenger side of the vehicle so as to imply that Brown must have been going for his gun with this action. This is terrible, revisionist, logic.Â
'Why was he running to the passenger side?'Â
You said they were fighting on the sidewalk, right?Â
Being in a confrontation, itâs not as outlandish as Stanford wants to make it sound that one would run to the passenger side of his car if theyâre on the sidewalk.Â
Simply put, maybe itâs because the passenger door is the closest door to the sidewalk. Ta-da!Â
Maybe if youâre running for refuge â if youâre being assaulted by a police department who have been known to assault civilians for no apparent reason â the fastest route to refuge makes sense. Â
My question is, what was the shooterâs USELESS partner doing? And why wasnât the threat of the gun secured?
Whatâs also not explained: If Brown was âreaching for his gunâ as the police continue to suggest, why does Brandonâs postmortem injuries suggest that he didnât make it back to the car, at all? As pathologist Dr. Judy Melinek questions to me after viewing the photos of his injuries.Â
To refresh you, hereâs the doctorâs direct quote to me: Â
"The left-sided facial abrasions are consistent with an impact against an abrasive, broad, flat surface, like the concrete sidewalk, but a small abrasion on the right forehead is likely from a separate impact. What doesnât make sense is how he would collapse against the concrete if the top of his body is leaning inside the vehicle, allegedly reaching for the gun."
One last thing: At 13:00 minutes in the interview, Officer Stanford seems to try to sell that Brown was running to the passenger side of his car to grab the gun as if itâs not 100 percent clear he was reaching for the weapon.Â
He says, âThe passenger side. Not the driverâs side. The passengerâs side. Which is kinda â in itself, a little bitâŚâ he said before thinking for a second or two. âWhy would you make an attempt to get back to the passenger side of the vehicle?âÂ
The line of reasoning â that question â seems to attempt to sell the fact that Brown was, without a doubt, going back to the car to get a gun, when later Stanfordâs language seems to indicate that Brown was literally clearly reaching for the gun in his center console inside his vehicle. Â
"Well, what we know is, as he makes an attempt to get back to that passenger side of that vehicle, he reaches for that handgun which is in that center area. Forcing the officer, at that point, to fire his weapon, unfortunately striking the male and fatally wounding him."Â
What? Did he âattemptâ to get back to the vehicle? Or did he actually make it back to the vehicle enough to reach for the handgun?Â
Things still arenât adding up, Mr. Policeman. And youâre going to have to do better than that.Â
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