ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — Andrew Brown Jr., a Black man killed by deputies in North Carolina, was shot five times, including in the back of the head, according to an independent autopsy report released Tuesday by his family’s attorneys.
The details about Brown’s wounds emerged amid increasing calls for the public release of body camera footage of last week’s shooting. A court hearing on access to the video was scheduled for Wednesday.
The autopsy was performed Sunday by a pathologist hired by Brown’s family. The exam noted four wounds to the right arm and one to the head. The state’s autopsy has not been released yet.
The family’s lawyers also released a copy of the death certificate, which lists the cause of death as a “penetrating gunshot wound of the head.” It describes the death as a homicide.
Brown was shot Wednesday by deputies serving drug-related search and arrest warrants in the North Carolina town of Elizabeth City, about 160 miles northeast of Raleigh.
The autopsy results come a day after Brown’s relatives were shown some body camera footage. Another family lawyer, Chantel Cherry-Lassiter, who viewed a 20-second portion of the video, said Monday that officers opened fire on Brown while he had his hands on the steering wheel of a car. She said she lost count of the numerous gunshots while viewing the footage.
Brown’s son Khalil Ferebee questioned why deputies had to shoot so many times at a man who, he said, posed no threat.
“Yesterday I said he was executed. This autopsy report shows me that was correct,” he said Tuesday at a news conference. “It’s obvious he was trying to get away. It’s obvious. And they’re going to shoot him in the back of the head?”
The pathologist, North Carolina-based Dr. Brent Hall, noted a wound to the back of Brown’s head from an undetermined distance that penetrated his skull and brain. He said there was no exit wound.
“It was a kill shot to the back of the head,” family attorney Ben Crump said.
Two shots to Brown’s right arm penetrated the skin. Two others shots to the arm grazed him. The pathologist could not determine the distance from which they were fired.
The shooting prompted days of protests and calls for justice and transparency.
Wednesday’s court hearing on the video will consider petitions to release the footage, including filings by a media coalition and by a county attorney on behalf of the sheriff. A North Carolina law that took effect in 2016 allows law enforcement agencies to show body camera video privately to a victim’s family but generally requires a court to approve any public release.
It’s not clear how soon a judge could rule, or how quickly the video would be released if the release is approved. In similar cases, it has sometimes taken weeks for the full legal process to play out.
The slow movement has prompted an outcry from protesters, the family’s lawyers and racial justice advocates, who noted that law enforcement agencies in other states have moved faster. In Columbus, Ohio, the day before Brown was shot, body camera footage was released within hours of an officer fatally shooting a 16-year-old Black girl who was swinging a knife at another girl.
NEW YORK — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased its guidelines Tuesday on the wearing of masks outdoors, saying fully vaccinated Americans don’t need to cover their faces anymore unless they are in a big crowd of strangers.
And those who are unvaccinated can go outside without masks in some situations, too.
The new guidance represents another carefully calibrated step on the road back to normal from the coronavirus outbreak that has killed over 570,000 people in U.S.
For most of the past year, the CDC had been advising Americans to wear masks outdoors if they are within 6 feet of one another.
“Today, I hope, is a day when we can take another step back to the normalcy of before,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. “Over the past year, we have spent a lot of time telling Americans what you can’t do. Today, I am going to tell you some of the things you can do, if you are fully vaccinated.”
The change comes as more than half of U.S. adults have gotten at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine, and more than a third have been fully vaccinated.
Walensky said the decision was driven by rising vaccination numbers; declines in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths; and research showing that less than 10% of documented instances of transmission of the virus happened outdoors.
Dr. Mike Saag, an infectious disease expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, welcomed the change in guidance.
“It’s the return of freedom,” Saag said. “It’s the return of us being able to do normal activities again. We’re not there yet, but we’re on the exit ramp. And that’s a beautiful thing.”
More people need to be vaccinated, and concerns persist about variants and other possible shifts in the epidemic. But Saag said the new guidance is a sensible reward following the development and distribution of effective vaccines and about 140 million Americans stepping forward to get their shots.
The CDC, which has been cautious in its guidance during the crisis, essentially endorsed what many Americans have already been doing over the past several weeks.
The CDC says that fully vaccinated or not, people do not have to wear masks outdoors when they walk, bike or run alone or with members of their household. They can also go maskless in small outdoor gatherings with fully vaccinated people.
But from there, the CDC has differing guidance for people who are fully vaccinated and those who are not.
Unvaccinated people — defined by the CDC as those who have yet to receive both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson formula — should wear masks at outdoor gatherings that include other unvaccinated people. They also should keep using masks at outdoor restaurants.
Fully vaccinated people do not need to cover up in those situations, the CDC says.
However, everyone should keep wearing masks at crowded outdoor events such as concerts or sporting events, the CDC says.
And the agency continues to recommend masks at indoor public places, such as hair salons, restaurants, shopping centers, gyms, museums and movie theaters, saying that is still the safer course even for vaccinated people.
“Right now it’s very hard to tease apart who is vaccinated,” Walensky explained.
She said the CDC guidance should be a model for states in setting their mask-wearing requirements.
Dr. Babak Javid, a physician-scientist at the University of California, San Francisco, said the new CDC guidance is sensible.
“In the vast majority of outdoor scenarios, transmission risk is low,” Javid said.
Javid has favored outdoor mask-wearing requirements because he believes they increase indoor mask-wearing, but he said Americans can understand the relative risks and make good decisions.
He added: “I’m looking forward to mask-free existence.”
“The timing is right because we now have a fair amount of data about the scenarios where transmission occurs,” said Mercedes Carnethon, a professor and vice chair of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
What’s more, she said, “the additional freedoms may serve as a motivator” for people to get vaccinated.
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AP medical writer Carla K. Johnson in Washington state contributed to this report.
___
The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The suavely psychedelic synth-pop on George Arthur Calendar’s new Paradox has a Chicago flavor and a Guadalajara groove.
George Arthur Calendar, a Chicago musician who describes himself as the creator of “some of the most suave and velvety narco synth pop/soul/funk north of Tijuana,” is blindfolded and tied to a chair.…Read More
In this Wednesday, March 3, 2021 file photo, people wearing face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus walk through a shaft of light on a street in Philadelphia. | AP
The CDC guidance says that fully vaccinated or not, people do not have to wear masks outdoors when they walk, bike or run alone or with members of their household. They also can go maskless in small outdoor gatherings with fully vaccinated people.
NEW YORK — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased its guidelines Tuesday on the wearing of masks outdoors, saying fully vaccinated Americans don’t need to cover their faces anymore unless they are in a big crowd of strangers.
And those who are unvaccinated can go outside without masks in some cases, too.
The new guidance represents another carefully calibrated step on the road back to normal from the coronavirus outbreak that has killed over 570,000 people in U.S.
For most of the past year, the CDC had been advising Americans to wear masks outdoors if they are within 6 feet of each other.
The change comes as more than half of U.S. adults have gotten at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine, and more than a third have been fully vaccinated.
“It’s the return of freedom,” said Dr. Mike Saag, an infectious disease expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who welcomed the change. “It’s the return of us being able to do normal activities again. We’re not there yet, but we’re on the exit ramp. And that’s a beautiful thing.”
More people need to be vaccinated, and concerns persist about variants and other possible shifts in the epidemic. But Saag said the new guidance is a sensible reward following the development and distribution of effective vaccines and about 140 million Americans stepping forward to get their shots.
The CDC, which has been cautious in its guidance during the crisis, essentially endorsed what many Americans have already been doing over the past several weeks.
The CDC says that fully vaccinated or not, people do not have to wear masks outdoors when they walk, bike or run alone or with members of their household. They can also go maskless in small outdoor gatherings with fully vaccinated people.
But from there, the CDC has differing guidance for people who are fully vaccinated and those who are not.
Unvaccinated people — defined by the CDC as those who have yet to receive both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson formula — should wear masks at outdoor gatherings that include other unvaccinated people. They also should keep using masks at outdoor restaurants.
Fully vaccinated people do not need to cover up in those situations, the CDC says.
However, everyone should keep wearing masks at crowded outdoor events such as concerts or sporting events, the CDC says.
And the agency continues to recommend masks at indoor public places, such as hair salons, restaurants, shopping centers, museums and movie theaters.
Dr. Babak Javid, a physician-scientist at the University of California, San Francisco, said the new CDC guidance is sensible.
“In the vast majority of outdoor scenarios, transmission risk is low,” Javid said.
Javid has favored outdoor mask-wearing requirements because he believes they increase indoor mask-wearing, but he said Americans can understand the relative risks and make good decisions.
“The key thing is to make sure people wear masks indoors” while in public spaces, he said.
He added: “I’m looking forward to mask-free existence.”
“The timing is right because we now have a fair amount of data about the scenarios where transmission occurs,” said Mercedes Carnethon, a professor and vice chair of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
What’s more, she said, “the additional freedoms may serve as a motivator” for people to get vaccinated.
___
AP medical writer Carla K. Johnson in Washington state contributed to this report.
___
The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The intensive care unit at the Ibn al-Khatib hospital is damaged following a fire that broke out last Saturday evening killing over 80 people and injuring over 100, in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, April 27, 2021. Medical staff who witnessed the first moments of a Baghdad hospital fire described horrific scenes: deafening screams, a patient who jumped to his death to escape the inferno and relatives who died because they refused to abandon coronavirus patients tethered to ventilators. | AP
The fire, which erupted late Saturday at the Ibn al-Khatib hospital’s coronavirus ward, raged for hours before claiming 82 lives and injuring 110 people. The death toll could still climb, with many of those hurt listed in serious condition.
BAGHDAD — It was a night of unimaginable horror as flames engulfed the intensive care unit of a Baghdad hospital: deafening screams, a patient jumping to his death to escape the inferno and relatives staying by their loved ones, refusing to abandon coronavirus patients tethered to ventilators.
Iraqi doctors, medical staff and rescue workers who witnessed the first moments of the catastrophic blaze described the scenes to The Associated Press, many overcome by trauma and saying that night is forever seared in their memory.
The fire, which erupted late Saturday at the Ibn al-Khatib hospital’s coronavirus ward, raged for hours before claiming 82 lives and injuring 110 people. The death toll could still climb, with many of those hurt listed in serious condition.
Officials said the blaze was set off by exploding oxygen cylinders; days later, speculation has run rampant about what caused them to explode. Authorities have yet to issue the results of an official investigation.
Iraq, a nation toughened by decades of dictatorship, war and sectarian conflict — and now struggling to cope with the pandemic — remains in shock. Senior health officials have been fired or suspended amid allegations of negligence.
Doctors have warned of systemic mismanagement, describing Iraqi hospitals as ticking bombs because of lax safety rules, especially around oxygen cylinders. They say hospitals often lack smoke detectors and that visitors routinely smoke cigarettes around oxygen cylinders or bring in electric stoves to cook for the patients.
Sabah Samer, a doctor, and Yousif Hussein, a paramedic, were among the first to charge toward the blaze to try and help the victims. They say the hospital was a firetrap, especially the COVID-19 ward.
“The fire spread so quickly because of the combustible oxygen cylinders,” said Samer. “The walls of the rooms were padded with plastic and nylon, which fed the fire.”
He said he remembers the cylinders exploding one after another for almost every minute that he was inside, with flames shooting through the hospital windows. He said he counted at least 20 explosions.
Samer and other rescuers said it was impossible to reach many of the patients — they could hear screams and pleas for help from the second floor of the hospital.
One patient, a nurse with COVID-19, jumped through the window to his death, his body in flames. His charred remains were retrieved from the hospital courtyard later, Samer said.
Many have since pointed to blatant shortcomings in the hospital’s safety measures. Fire extinguishers did not work and emergency exits were inexplicably shut.
Dr. Kamal al-Rubaie, 28, was on the hospital’s second floor ICU ward, filled with COVID-19 patients on oxygen when the fire started. He was about to offer condolences to the family after one of his patients had died when he saw the first spark.
He said he had feared the oxygen cylinders ever since his first rotation at the ward last October. Each room inside the respiratory care unit typically stored over a dozen cylinders, with each patient needing between two to three a day. There were 30 patients in the unit at the time, he said.
In the day-to day patient care, there weren’t enough hospital staff to check that each cylinder was functioning properly. The task often fell on untrained relatives of patients, al-Rubaie said. Other doctors who have worked at the hospital said the same.
Given the risks in storing oxygen cylinders, which have to be kept far from combustible materials, modern hospitals have adopted centralized oxygen supply systems. These were even established in Iraqi hospitals in the 1980s under Sadaam Hussein but fell into disrepair during the embargo years, when U.N. sanctions prevented Iraq from trading oil and crippled the economy, and also after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
With Iraqi health facilities aging, oxygen cylinders have become the norm. And though Ibn al-Khatib did have a functioning centralized oxygen system, patients preferred the cylinders, seeing them as better for individual care.
What triggered the first cylinder to explode remains unclear — some speculate a patient’s visiting relative was using a little electric stove or another heat source next to a cylinder.
Al-Rubaie doesn’t remember seeing a heat source and also, just the presence of a stove cannot explain how it might have sparked the fire, he said. Oxygen can only strengthen a fire that is already burning, he added.
Samer described how he rushed to a virus patient hooked up to a ventilator in one of the hospital rooms that was surrounded by fire, grabbed the man and his cylinder to carry him out. Every moment he carried them were filled with terror.
“The cylinder could explode at any moment,” he said.
As Hussein, the paramedic, moved patients outside, crowds of volunteers turned up, adding to the chaos. Some came running out of the burning hospital and told him the three fire extinguishers on the second floor were empty. They had tried to put out the flames with blankets.
Maj. Gen. Khalid Bohan, the head of Iraq’s civil defense, recounted the many letters sent over the years to various ministries, urging them to install or update safety systems — only to be told “”there are no financial allocations.” A smoke detector and a fire system must be in place and hospital administrators bear this responsibility, he told Iraqi state TV after the fire.
Fire safety systems are included in the design and cost breakdown of most hospitals, doctors said. But in practice, they are seldom put in place, raising new questions about corruption among officials.
Samer said a fire safety system could have contained the blaze and saved lives.
His last memory from that night were the deafening cries of those who could not be reached inside the hospital.
In this Tuesday, March 30, 2021 file photo, demonstrators in support of transgender rights hold flags during a rally outside the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Ala. Five states have passed laws or implemented executive orders this year limiting the ability of transgender youths to play sports or receive certain medical treatment. There’s been a vehement outcry from supporters of transgender rights – but little in the way of tangible repercussions for those states. | AP
Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, deputy executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, says he’s surprised by the lack of backlash, but believes it will materialize as more people learn details about the legislation being approved.
Five states have passed laws or implemented executive orders this year limiting the ability of transgender youths to play sports or receive certain medical treatment. There’s been a vehement outcry from supporters of transgender rights – but little in the way of tangible repercussions for those states.
It’s a striking contrast to the fate of North Carolina a few years ago. When its Legislature passed a bill in March 2016 limiting which public restrooms transgender people could use, there was a swift and powerful backlash. The NBA and NCAA relocated events; some companies scrapped expansion plans. By March 2017, the bill’s bathroom provisions were repealed.
So far this year, there’s been nothing comparable. Not even lawsuits, although activists predict some of the measures eventually will be challenged in court.
Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, deputy executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, says he’s surprised by the lack of backlash, but believes it will materialize as more people learn details about the legislation being approved.
“A lot of Americans are still getting to know trans people and they’re learning about these issues for the first time,” he said. “Over time, they get to know their trans neighbors, they get outraged by these bans, and corporations respond … It’s just a matter of time.”
The president of a major national LGBTQ-rights organizations, Alphonso David of the Human Rights Campaign, attributed the lack of backlash to lack of awareness about the potential harm that these laws could cause to transgender young people.
“Some people in this country have not come to terms with treating trans people like human beings,” David said. “It’s now coming to a head.”
One batch of bills seeks to ban transgender girls from competing on girls’ sports teams in public schools. Such measures have been enacted in Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi, and implemented by an executive order from Gov. Kristi Noem in South Dakota.
Another batch of bills seeks to ban gender-affirming medical treatments for trans minors – including the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy. Arkansas legislators approved such a measure over the veto of Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and similar measures are pending in Alabama, Tennessee and Texas.
Echoing concerns of major medical associations, Dr. Michele Hutchison – who runs a transgender medicine clinic at Arkansas Children’s hospital — says the ban in her state is raising the risk of suicide among some of her patients and forcing some families to wonder if they should move to another state.
More than 400 companies __ including Tesla, Pfizer, Delta Air Lines and Amazon __ have signed on to support civil rights legislation for LGBTQ people that is moving through Congress, advocates said Tuesday.
And last week, the Human Rights Campaign took out a full-page ad in the New York Times appealing to corporations to denounce the anti-trans bills that have proliferated in Republican-controlled legislatures.
The letter, signed by David, urged corporate leaders “to take action now by publicly denouncing state legislation that discriminates against people, refusing to advance new business in states that are hostile to corporate values and refusing to support sporting events where transgender athletes are banned.”
More than 85 companies have signed a statement drafted by the HRC — including Amazon, American Airlines, Apple, AT&T, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Pfizer and Union Pacific. In polite language, the statement implies a threat: “As we make complex decisions about where to invest and grow, these issues can influence our decisions.”
Overall, the corporate response remains “insufficient,” David said. “But I think we are seeing a turning of the tide as we put more pressure on companies.”
One of the companies signing the HRC statement is the technology giant Oracle Corp., which is planning to bring 8,500 jobs and a $1.2 billion investment to Nashville, Tennessee, over the coming decade. Joe Woolley, who heads the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce, has expressed hope that Oracle — which has not threatened to cancel its plans — might use its leverage to prompt reconsideration of Tennessee’s anti-transgender legislation.
Woolley also says organizers of at least three conventions are considering pulling those events out of Nashville because of the bills, though he has declined to identify them.
Thus far, Tennessee Gov, Bill Lee has signaled that any criticism from the business community won’t sway him.
“Organizations have opportunities to weigh in on the legislative process but ultimately, Tennesseans, through their elected representatives, determine the law in our state,” said Casey Black, a spokesperson for Lee.
In Texas, a coalition called Texas Competes released a letter April 19 signed by more than 40 businesses and chambers of commerce in the state denouncing a batch of pending bills as “divisive, unnecessary and economically dangerous.”
Specifically, the letter denounced “efforts to exclude transgender youth from full participation in their communities.”
In Montana, where a transgender sports ban has won initial approval in the Republican-controlled House and Senate, lawmakers added an amendment stipulating that the measure would be nullified if the federal government withheld education funding from the state because of the policy.
The concern stems from an executive order signed by President Joe Biden banning discrimination based on gender. Montana universities receive around $350 million annually in federal funding, of which $250 million goes towards student loans and grants to cover tuition costs — money that university officials say could be at risk if the administration deemed the sports ban to be unacceptable discrimination.
The extent of any emerging backlash to the anti-trans laws will hinge in part on the NCAA, which played a pivotal role in the North Carolina case.
The NCAA’s Board of Governors issued a statement April 12 expressing strong support for the inclusion of transgender athletes.
“When determining where championships are held, NCAA policy directs that only locations where hosts can commit to providing an environment that is safe, healthy and free of discrimination should be selected,” the statement said. “We will continue to closely monitor these situations to determine whether NCAA championships can be conducted in ways that are welcoming and respectful of all participants.”
Alphonso David said the Human Rights Campaign welcomed the statement, but wanted an even tougher stance from the NCAA, with explicit warnings that events would not be held in states with anti-trans laws.
“The time for concrete actions is now,” David said Monday in a letter to NCCA leaders. “This is a national crisis, and one that necessitates united action, including from the NCAA.”
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Associated Press reporters Iris Samuels in Helena, Montana, and Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.
Scott Shapiro owner of Syd Jerome, picks out sports coats for Marc Kadish in May 2020. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
As vaccinations climb, menswear reawakens; now you can get your pants cuffed and stay safe at the same time.
Over the past year, I’ve worn a coat and tie exactly once. The incoming head of the Taiwanese economic development office in Chicago wanted to get acquainted over a Zoom call. I knew he’d be wearing a coat and tie, and didn’t want to be disrespectful: they’ve got enough of that coming from communist China already.
It was, as they say in diplomatic circles, a frank and productive exchange of ideas.
A few minutes before we spoke, I stood before the mirror in the bedroom, fingers fluttering at the necktie — blue, not red, for obvious reasons. I wondered if I’d remember how to tie it. But I’ve been tying neckties since 1974, when I played the Mr. Darling/Captain Hook role in “Peter Pan” at Camp Wise and had to tie a tie onstage while delivering lines. You don’t forget.
The COVID-19 era was pants optional, business conducted from your living room. Now, with the non-wackadoodle segment of the country getting vaccinated, and beginning to emerge from our long hibernation, the question is: Are we going to start dressing up? Or go to work in sweats? Or even buy new clothes? Those with a dog in the race are optimistic.
“The courts aren’t open, there’s no theater, no trade shows, the financial institutions are all still closed,” said Scott Shapiro, owner of Syd Jerome, the high-end Loop men’s clothing store, which has had plywood over its windows since August.
“There’s no reason to put displays in the windows because nobody is walking by,” said Shapiro.
Even without mannequins displaying cashmere sweaters and Italian belts, “our customers are slowly coming back.” A certain Chicago milieu is always going to look sharp.
“A big portion of what we sell is to plaintiff’s attorneys, your [personal injury] workman’s comp divorce guys,” said Shapiro. “Wearing ties is part of their persona.”
He tried to convince one prominent lawyer shooting a TV commercial during the pandemic to switch to a zip sweater with an open collar. “Show a warmer, softer side,” he urged.
“I’m the suit guy,” the counselor replied. “They expect to see me in a suit.”
Suit guys are like that. In early April, Chicago Cut Steakhouse threw a two-night re-opening reception after four months of being shuttered.
“Everybody was dressed up, everybody was having fun, telling great stories,” said managing partner David Flom. “It’s just great to see the world coming back, great to see people being social. At the end of the day, people love getting dressed up.”
At the top of the food chain, anyway. How about us working stiffs in the respectable middle? I checked in with Paul Rosengarten, owner of Suits 20/20 in Niles, who outfitted my boys for their bar mitzvahs and has sold me a few bargain suits too.
“Things have started to pick up,” Rosengarten said. “It’s a welcome relief. People were hesitant to go out and shop. But now, with the vaccines coming out, there’s this pent-up demand with people realizing they put on a couple pounds since they bought clothes last.”
Scrambling is often necessary.
“Guys historically wait until the last minute,” he said. “Weddings are starting up again, even proms. They’ll come in Thursday and say they need something for an event this Saturday.”
And you can handle that?
“Yeah,” he said. “You’ve got to. These days it’s all about service.”
And about finding new revenue streams — for instance, the several inches of fabric cut off when pants are shortened. Pre-COVID, that went into the garbage; now, for $15 you can have a mask made that’ll match your suit.
“Guys are loving that,” Rosengarten said.
One big benefit is that customers happy to buy loafers online from Zappo’s still balk at buying a suit on Amazon.
“People are all so tired of being cooped up inside,” said Rosengarten. “There is a general satisfaction the consumer has in shopping. The want to go out and buy something. Fortunately for us, suits are one of the few things that still require some type of personal attention to fit.”
(Amazon does sell men’s suits, such as a Perry Ellis two-piece Slim Fit suit in … good Lord … a rayon/polyester/spandex blend for $96.78.)
“Guys are wearing the Slim Fit suits, even the stocky guys, the husky guys, they want to be able to put it on, buy it, go home and say, ‘Look honey, I’m wearing a Slim Fit.’”
A demonstrator yells from her car as protesters took to the streets in Elizabeth City, N.C., on Monday, April 26, 2021, to protest the killing of Andrew Brown by police and to demand the full body camera footage be released. | AP
A pathologist hired by Andrew Brown Jr’s family examined his body and noted four wounds to the right arm and one to the head, attorney Wayne Kendall said during a news conference.
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — An independent autopsy shows that Andrew Brown Jr., a Black man killed by deputies in North Carolina, was shot five times, including in the back of the head, attorneys for the man’s family announced Tuesday.
A pathologist hired by Brown’s family examined his body and noted four wounds to the right arm and one to the head, attorney Wayne Kendall said during a news conference.
Brown’s son Khalil Ferebee questioned why deputies had to shoot so many times at a man who, he said, posed no threat.
“Yesterday I said he was executed. This autopsy report shows me that was correct,” he said at the news conference. “It’s obvious he was trying to get away. It’s obvious. And they’re going to shoot him in the back of the head?”
Brown was shot Wednesday by deputies serving drug-related search and arrest warrants in the eastern North Carolina town of Elizabeth City.
A family lawyer who viewed a 20-second portion of body camera footage shown to the family said Monday that law enforcement officers opened fire on Brown while he had his hands on the steering wheel. Lawyer Chantel Cherry-Lassiter said that she lost count of the numerous gunshots while viewing the footage.
The shooting prompted days of protests and calls for justice and transparency. The body camera footage has not been made public.
Former Bears linebacker Geno Hayes died of liver disease at age 33. | Rick Scuteri/AP
In an interview with ESPN earlier this year, Hayes said he was diagnosed with “chronic liver disease” two years ago. He also said he had been placed on a waiting list for a transplant at the Mayo Clinic and Northwestern Medicine.
Former Bears and Florida State linebacker Geno Hayes, who had been under hospice care at his parents’ home in Georgia, died Monday evening from liver disease.
He was 33.
Frankie Carroll, who coached Hayes at Madison County (Fla.) High School, told the Tallahassee Democrat he was informed of the player’s passing by Hayes’ family.
“It’s one of those things where you have to make sure you tell them you love them,” said Carroll, who recently visited Hayes.
In an interview with ESPN earlier this year, Hayes said he was diagnosed with “chronic liver disease” two years ago. He also said he had been placed on a waiting list for a transplant at the Mayo Clinic and Northwestern Medicine.
Hayes signed with FSU in 2005 out of Madison County, where he became one of the top linebackers in the nation.
Thoughts and prayer for the family and friends of Geno Hayes. He lived his life as a tremendous Seminole who impacted so many throughout his journey on and off the field. His legacy will live on. #RIP#NoleFamily
Carroll fondly recalled when then-FSU coach Bobby Bowden visited Hayes’ home in Greenville, Florida. Hayes deftly pushed a plate of greens underneath his bed as Bowden toured the home.
“Geno’s mom kept the house immaculate, spotless — and she was so mad,” Carroll said and laughed.
Hayes played three seasons at FSU — finishing his junior season second on the team in total tackles with 94 — and opted for the NFL Draft, where he was a sixth-round selection of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2008.
Hayes moved into the starter’s role at weakside linebacker in his second season with the Buccaneers, replacing former Seminole and future Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks and finishing with a career-best 98 tackles.
Hayes played seven seasons in the NFL with the Buccaneers, Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars. He finished his pro career with 401 tackles, 10 sacks, six forced fumbles, six interceptions and two defensive touchdowns.
He played in 15 games for the Bears in 2012, starting three. He had 16 total tackles, including one tackle for loss, that season.
Hayes was known on the field for his athleticism and quickness, and off it for his infectious, bright smile and willingness to help his hometown of Greenville.
Hayes told ESPN that he believes his use of over-the-counter pain medications during his time in the NFL, as well as his family’s history of liver disease, led to his condition. Hayes has two children, ages 13 and 8.
When asked what he would tell his players about Hayes, current Madison County coach Mike Coe told the Tallahasee Democrat Monday night: “That he absolutely loved being a Cowboy, great teammate, practiced like he played, with relentless energy, juice, passion. Fearless. Then later to see the Dad that he turned into, the joy that his kids brought him.”
