ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — Protesters and community members say they are frustrated for the family of Andrew Brown Jr. who will only see a portion of the police body camera footage.
Out of nearly two hours of video, Pasquotank County Judge Jeffrey Foster says the family should only see about 19 minutes of it.
Judge Foster says the reason behind his decision is because the rest of the video does not show Brown and therefore is “not appropriate" for the family to watch at this time. Details listed in the order imply the withheld portions of the video show what happened after deputies shot Brown.
For community activists like Kirk Rivers, he says the lack of transparency leaves too many to question what is happening behind closed doors in their own county.
"It's not about being anti-cop or anything of that nature," said Rivers. "That's what we want to make clear. If you have a loved one, you'd want to know the truth."
Rivers and others say the past few weeks have felt discouraged with their voices not being heard enough.
"The community is getting frustrated," said Rivers. "We're going on 21 days and that's just a travesty."
"That's these people's family members that are deceased on this video," said Elizabeth City community member and protester Dorothy Dancy. "You should just give them the whole video."
Rivers says he wants to see a change in how body camera footage is handled. He hopes for the sake of the family, they will one day be able to see all the video to get some closure.
Rivers says they will continue to protest peacefully until they feel they've been heard in Elizabeth City.