Philadelphia cops cleared in shooting death of Brandon Tate-Brown

 Family members of Brandon Tate-Brown speak outside Philadelphia City Hall (Tom MacDOnald/WHYY)

Family members of Brandon Tate-Brown speak outside Philadelphia City Hall (Tom MacDOnald/WHYY)

Two Philadelphia police officers have been cleared of charges in the shooting death of Brandon Tate-Brown last year.

An early morning car stop in December on Frankford Avenue ended with police shooting Brandon Tate-Brown to death.  Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams says after a complete review of both police and civilian witeness testimony along with some grainy video, he concluded there was no case here.

“The officer’s actions here do not constitute a crime,” he said. “What transpired in those early hours of December 15th was a tragedy, it was not a crime”

Williams showed pictures of the stolen handgun that was in the console of Tate-Brown’s rental car. Civilian eyewitnesses testified he was reaching for the weapon as he fought to escape police.

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“He went around the car toward the passenger side where he tried to reach inside to the place where he knew he put his gun,” Williams said.

A DNA test showed Tate-Brown had handled the gun.

Tate-Brown’s mother Tanya Dickerson, says she sees things differently than the District Attorney.

“I saw four videos he says he saw three, I’m telling you I saw my son nowhere near the right side and he never got to open the right side of that car door,” she said.

The right side of the car is key because that’s where the gun with Tate-Brown’s DNA was found in the console.

An attorney for the family says they will see if any criminal acts have been committed as they consider a wrongful death lawsuit.

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