ěOn Saturday, November 13, 2010 at approximately 12:45 a.m., officers of the Salisbury Police Department responded to a domestic disturbance at the residence of James Richard Brown, located at 2410 Stokes Ferry Road in Salisbury.
Officers were dispatched to James Brownís residence after he became involved in an altercation with his wife, Christine Brown, and his sister, Mary Crayton. After arriving at the residence, officers encountered James Brown inside the residence. James Brown was holding a baseball bat, but raised the bat as if he was going to strike at the officers that were present. Officer Jeremy Cable fired his weapon once at James Brown striking him in the chest.
Christine Brown stated that her husband, James Brown, had drank liquor and had slapped her and pushed her into the back door. She then called James Brownís father and sister for assistance.
Dewitt Brown received a phone call from his daughter-in-law, Christine Brown, who stated that his son, James Brown, had hit her and was throwing things in the house. When Dewitt Brown arrived at the residence he was informed that his son had also assaulted Mary Crayton and that the police had been called.
Mary Crayton, James Brownís sister, stated that she could tell he had been drinking and that he had a history of being abusive with women in the past. She stated that James Brown grabbed her hair, hit her in the head with his fist several times, and knocked her to the ground at which time she yelled at Christine Brown to call 911.
Christine Brown stated that she called 911 and told the dispatcher to send someone to the house, that her husband was flipping out and hurting her and his sister. Officer Cable and other officers were dispatched and subsequently arrived at the residence.
Christine Brown stated that James Brown had closed the doors to the residence and had turned off all the lights. Officers, along with Dewitt Brown, went to the front door and knocked on it repeatedly and stated, ěSalisbury Police Department.î Officer Moore stated that Officer Cable and Dewitt Brown then went to the rear door of the residence and knocked on the door. Officer Cable continued to announce ěSalisbury Police Departmentî and Dewitt Brown used his shoulder to open the back door.
Dewitt Brown entered into the kitchen and Officer Cable and Officer Moore followed behind him. At this time, Dewitt Brown called out for his son but was struck in the head with a baseball bat by James Brown and fell to the ground. Officer Cable and Officer Moore drew their weapons and gave repeated verbal commands to James Brown to drop the bat. A witness stated that he observed James Brown with a baseball bat coming down the hallway and heard an officer say put the weapon down several times.
Officer Cable stated that James Brown barreled around the corner with a bat over his shoulder and swung the bat and hit Dewitt Brown in the forehead. When this occurred, Officer Cable was approximately five feet behind Dewitt Brown. Dewitt Brown stated that his son went past him (after he was struck) and still had the bat.
Officer Cable stated that James Brown had the bat over his shoulder and began advancing toward Officer Moore. Officer Moore stated that James Brown was raising the bat and believed that James Brown was within swinging distance of both he and Officer Cable. Officer Torrence stated that he, along with Officer Cable and Officer Moore, gave repeated verbal commands to James Brown to drop the bat; however, James Brown refused and kept advancing toward Officer Moore in a threatening manner.
Officer Cable stated that he believed that James Brown was going to cause serious injury or death to Officer Moore and then to himself or to Dewitt Brown. Officer Cable fired one round which struck James Brown in the chest and Officer Cable immediately called for EMS.
EMS arrived at the scene and pronounced James Brown deceased at approximately 1:08 a.m. James Brown was found lying in the kitchen area and a wooden baseball bat was located between the laundry and kitchen floor. A .40 caliber spent shell casing was located on the kitchen floor and a .40 caliber projectile was recovered from James Brownís body. The firearms examination and identification report confirmed that the .40 caliber bullet and the .40 caliber shell casing were fired from Officer Cableís service weapon.
The medical examiner concluded that the cause of death was a gunshot wound of the chest and that James Brown had been consuming alcohol and was intoxicated at the time of his death. Postmortem toxicology analysis of James Brownís blood revealed an ethanol level of 230 mg/dL.
I have reviewed the SBI investigation concerning the shooting death of James Brown. I have concluded that the evidence indicates that Officer Jeremy Cable did not violate the criminal law as it relates to the use of deadly force and that no criminal charges will be filed against Officer Jeremy Cable for the shooting death of James Richard Brown.î