Devonte Brown’s car was boxed in and his airbags were deployed when a Cobb County police officer opened fire two years ago, shooting a dozen rounds into the driver’s-side window and killing the 28-year-old, according to body camera footage released this week.
In a statement, a civil rights attorney representing the family of the Austell man said Brown was trapped in his vehicle and posed “no immediate threat” to law enforcement when Officer Ian McConnell fired the deadly shots.
“Devonte Brown wasn’t a threat to anyone,” attorney Harry Daniels said. “This video makes it clear that he was trapped like a rat and that’s exactly how Officer McConnell treated him.”
The GBI closed its investigation into the deadly police shooting in September 2022, and the case was later presented to a Cobb grand jury, which declined to indict the officer, according to the district attorney’s office.
Brown was killed in Marietta on Aug. 18, 2021, following a police chase that began when officers attempted to stop him for driving erratically, former Cobb police Chief Tim Cox said at the time. Authorities initially said the vehicle was stolen, but Cox later clarified that the man’s driving was the reason for the stop.
According to the GBI, Brown pulled over when police first tried to stop him near South Marietta Parkway and Powder Springs Road, but then “refused to comply and sped away.” The chase continued along Powder Springs Road, before several police vehicles surrounded Brown’s car in the southbound lanes, boxing him in outside a Marietta automotive shop near the intersection of Sandtown Road.
In the video, Brown reverses his vehicle and then drives forward, crashing into squad cars in an apparent attempt to get away.
“Get your hands up. Get your (expletive) hands up,” the officer identified as McConnell is heard shouting before firing 12 rounds into Brown’s window.
At least two other officers could be seen standing on the other side of Brown’s vehicle at the time, but the man identified by attorneys as McConnell was the only officer at the scene to fire his weapon.
“Son of a (expletive),” he says, before telling his colleagues he’s doing a “tactical reload” and replacing the magazine of his gun.
Keeping his gun aimed at the car, the officer can be heard on his radio asking for an ambulance and firefighters to come to the scene. It was clear Brown had been shot multiple times, and several officers nearby referenced his “agonal breathing,” or the “dying breaths” typically associated with cardiac arrest.
“Start medical. Start ‘em quick,” the officer told dispatchers. “I think fire’s gonna have to extricate him as well.”
Following the shooting, the officer can be heard cursing several more times.
“I shot him,” he said at one point. “I’m the only one who shot.”
Several of the man’s colleagues asked the Cobb police officer if he was OK, and one coworker appears to walk up and hug him toward the end of the 11½-minute video.
Brown was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
At the time, authorities said one officer suffered minor injuries after being hit by Brown’s car, though it’s unclear if that happened earlier in the chase. Both Cobb police and the GBI said a handgun was recovered from the vehicle, but authorities did not say if Brown ever pointed the weapon at officers.
State records show McConnell joined the police department in January 2016. It’s his only sworn law enforcement job in Georgia, and records show no disciplinary history.
An officer’s use of deadly force is often deemed justified by prosecutors in cases where police say a driver’s vehicle posed a threat to themselves or others. Daniels, the attorney for Brown’s family, argues that was not the case here because Brown was hemmed in and “trapped” when he was shot and killed.
In a statement, a spokesman for the Cobb County Police Department said the agency “recognize(s) the community’s concerns regarding this incident.”
“First and foremost, our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragic event, including the family of Devonte Brown and all involved officers,” a police sergeant wrote in an email. “The loss of life is always a somber matter, and we approach this situation with the utmost seriousness and sensitivity.”
The department noted the shooting was investigated by the GBI, which turned over its findings to the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office, as is standard procedure for most police shootings. The case was then presented to the grand jury, which “concluded that there were no grounds for charges against the officer involved,” the police department said.
— AJC data specialist Jennifer Peebles contributed to this article.
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