Lawyer: Video shows Tate-Brown's lights were on

A lawyer representing the mother of Brandon Tate-Brown says he has recovered video footage that shows the Frankford man driving with his headlights on before he was stopped and then killed by Philadelphia police last year.

Police have said Tate-Brown was pulled over Dec. 15 on the 6600 block of Frankford Avenue for driving with his headlights off. When officers saw a gun in the center console of the car, police have said, they told Tate-Brown to get out of the car. When he did, a struggle ensued. Police have said Tate-Brown had broken away from the officers and attempted to retrieve the gun when he was shot and killed.

On Monday, Brian Mildenberg, the lawyer representing Tate-Brown's mother, called on police to make public evidence in the case, including statements by the officers involved in the shooting. Those officers returned to street duty several weeks ago after an internal investigation determined they had not violated departmental policy. The case is still under review by the District Attorney's Office.

"The only way for us to understand the entire encounter is for the police to release the rest of the evidence," Mildenberg said.

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey could not be reached for comment late Monday. He has said that separate video of the shooting, though of low quality, supports the police report of the incident, and that witnesses have backed the officer's statements as well.

Mildenberg and Tate-Brown's mother, Tanya Dickerson-Brown, watched that surveillance footage of Tate-Brown's death last week, after months of protests calling on police to release the video. Mildenberg said that Tate-Brown's lights also appeared to be on in that video.

The video shows a struggle did ensue between Tate-Brown and police, with Tate-Brown escaping from the officers to run from one side of Frankford to the other several times, Mildenberg said. He said it was unclear from the footage who started the struggle or how it began.

He said that based on the footage, Tate-Brown appeared to be running from an officer - not reaching into his vehicle for a gun - when he was shot.

The newly obtained footage, taken from a 7-Eleven store on the 5000 block of Frankford, about 11/2 miles from where Tate-Brown died, was recovered by private investigators working for Mildenberg, he said. He said the footage "backs up what we saw" in the video of the shooting. The video can be seen at http://mildenberglaw.com/

He said he did not know whether police had recovered any footage from the 7-Eleven.

Mildenberg said he was not currently planning a lawsuit against the department.