Has anybody heard anything more about this case?
Oops, forgot about this thread. :o It was just a couple of lines describing the fatal injury buried in one of the post articles. Now I can’t find it. I suppose I shouldn’t have completely withdrawn my agnosticism based on such slim evidence, but it does weigh against the off-duty officer.
The Post hasn’t run a story on this for a while. Hopefully they’ll let us know the results of the official investigation, but that could take a while.
Hey Hyde, you piece of shit:
FOR THE LAST EIGHT YEARS, Aaron was a member of Boy Scout Troop 990, earning his Eagle Scout ranking last year, but was not able to attend his Eagle Court of Honor, said Skip Chapels, his Scout master.
Not quite the piece of shit criminal you thought huh?
Here are the latest articles from the Post - about the funeral, a letter to the editor, and a great editorial:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/04/AR2006030401134.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/04/AR2006030400934.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030201678.html
Washington Post Editorial:
A POPULAR YOUNG man is dead in Alexandria in an incident that began with an allegedly unpaid bill at a pancake house. Aaron R. Brown, 18, was in the back seat of a Jeep Cherokee with a group of friends when he was struck and killed by a bullet fired by an off-duty Alexandria police officer, Carl Stowe. Mr. Stowe, moonlighting as a security guard, opened fire after a restaurant employee told him that the group had skipped out on its bill. The police say that Mr. Stowe shot at the Cherokee because he believed his life was imperiled by the moving sport-utility vehicle.
Let’s start with some questions. Under those circumstances, why would Mr. Stowe try to stop a moving vehicle – let alone an SUV – in the first place? Why not just take down the license number? Alert the police with the vehicle’s description? Did Mr. Stowe needlessly put himself in harm’s way? And did he really fire at the Cherokee as many as five times, as a passenger told WRC (Channel 4) and as Mr. Brown’s parents (quoting the police) told The Post?
Are Mr. Brown’s parents also correct in quoting the police as saying that one bullet hit the rear door on the driver’s side and another hit the rear quarter-panel? Did Mr. Stowe fire at the vehicle from the side as well as from the front? Five times? Over a possibly unpaid check?
Alexandria police policy allows officers to shoot at a moving vehicle only if their lives are endangered, no other means of defense works and it is impossible to move from the vehicle’s path. How would that square with bullet holes in the side of the car?
Mr. Brown – a college student, an Eagle Scout, a guitar player – had no criminal record. Neither, as far as we know, did anyone else in the Cherokee, although the 19-year-old driver, Stephen J. Smith, was charged with driving while intoxicated and possession of marijuana. Alexandria’s police chief, Charles E. Samarra, told Mr. Brown’s parents and the City Council that the police investigation would be “complete and honest and thorough,” guided strictly by the evidence. “[We] will investigate this case as I would if it had been my son in this unfortunate tragedy . . . and when we are finished, we will reveal the details of the investigation and whatever the findings are,” he said. That is precisely the standard to which the inquiry should and will be held.
I am sure that as soon as the police issue a report on their investigation, the Post will cover it thoroughly. I’ll be on the lookout and keep you posted.
Just checking to see if there has been any new info on this.
I have been looking at the Washington Post every day and so far, there have been no further developments. I wonder what is taking so long for them to complete the investigation?
Not a new development, but I found this myspace page that is dedicated to him:
Aaron Brown (ripaaronbrown)'s profile on Myspace, the place where people come to connect, discover, and share.
Another murdering cop goes scot free. Hey, they let Rove walk, too. Our justice system is working just as intended … to free the guilty.
yBeayf
June 14, 2006, 2:27pm
294
One can only hope that cop will be absolutely ruined by the upcoming lawsuits.
How can shooting at the side of a vehicle possibly be considered self-defense? All the investigators had to do was look at the pattern of bullet holes.
WhenI was younger I had a really bad opinion of the police. I have grown, and have realized it is a tough job, one you couldn’t pay me enough to do - let alone for the crap salaries they get here. This kind of cover-up makes me think back to my younger days and wonder if I was really so wrong.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/13/AR2006061301550.html
Here is a more in depth article from the Washington Post. (Free registration may be required.)
Sengel said that two “starkly different accounts” emerged from the investigation.
The first, supported by later accounts of passengers, was that Stowe shot at the Jeep to prevent it from escaping and that the officer was in no imminent danger, Sengel said.
But a wealth of physical evidence shows that version to be “impossible,” Sengel said in the report, which he released to the public. The evidence does, however, match what other witnesses said they saw that morning, original statements from passengers and Stowe’s account: that he fired after the Jeep changed course and headed toward him, the prosecutor said.
“Under such circumstances, he, as any citizen would be, was legally entitled to defend himself,” Sengel said in the report. “We agree that he was facing a life-or-death situation,” he said at the news conference, adding that the three-month investigation was “one of the most difficult cases I’ve ever had to resolve.”
Using a 1995 Jeep Cherokee and photographs of the damage to the SUV and other parked vehicles, a team of officers from Alexandria and Fairfax County reconstructed the accident scene. They determined that the Jeep was driving about 25 mph at the moment of impact, based upon the angles at which the other vehicles were hit, although it could have been going faster. Ballistics tests showed that the Jeep was less than 50 feet from Stowe when he began firing.
The third, and fatal, shot was fired after the SUV had swerved and was no longer bearing down on him. But, the report said, the “forensic evidence of the case and scientific studies of human reaction time establish that Stowe could not reasonably have been expected to have reacted differently and stopped firing before he fired the fatal shot.”
Coverage from the Washington Post:
Article dated 6/13:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/13/AR2006061300508.html
Article dated 6/14:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/13/AR2006061301550.html
The actual police investigation report:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/daily/061306/investigation.html
The prosecutor said forensic evidence, and the most credible witness testimony, did not support allegations that Stowe opened fire simply to stop the vehicle from leaving the parking lot or because the teenagers were suspected of walking out on their $26 bill.
The investigation confirmed that the third, and fatal, shot was fired by Stowe after the SUV had swerved and was no longer directly bearing down on him. But, the report said, “The forensic evidence of the case and scientific studies of human reaction time establish that Stowe could not reasonably have been expected to have reacted differently and stopped firing before he fired the fatal shot.”
Two “starkly different accounts” of the shooting emerged, Sengel’s report said. One version said that Stowe opened fire even though he was not in imminent danger. The other said “that Stowe began firing from a position in which it appeared to him that he was about to be run over, after the vehicle suddenly swerved toward him and as it was nearly upon him.”
“The physical evidence supports the second account and shows the details of the first version to be impossible,” the report says.
Witnesses in the parking lot supported the second version of events as well, Sengel wrote.
Patrick Malone, an attorney for Jeff and Cheri Brown, said the family had not access to evidence in the case but is seeking the complete investigative file.
“We cannot and do not accept that this was just a misunderstanding,” he said.
He said the family will continue to pursue justice, possibly in the form of a lawsuit.
mhendo
June 14, 2006, 3:10pm
299
I’d like to see the complete report, including ballistic evidence and all witness statements, but i’m not sure if that stuff is available to the public.
I must say that some of the stuff from the Washington Post story leaves me thinking that maybe the right decision was made here. Look at one of the statements from a friend of the deceased, who were in the car with him:
Stephen J. Smith, 19, was behind the wheel. As he drove toward Stowe, the five friends reacted in assorted ways. Several said they covered their heads and braced for a crash. One, Breklyn Paulitzky, described Smith’s driving as “swerving all over the place.”
Paulitzky, who was seated in the backseat, said she saw Stowe standing before them and shouted, “Oh my God, you are going to kill this cop, stop!”
Later, she told investigators, “I was thinking it, I don’t know if I said it out loud.”
(page 2 of the story)
Also, from the driver of the SUV:
I’m completely opposed to the use of unnecessary force, and my initial reaction to this story was that the officer had fucked up, but if those statements are any indication, then at the very least it all happened so quickly that he might well have been in genuine and reasonable fear for his life.
D_Odds
June 14, 2006, 3:11pm
300
So, is this cops covering for cops, police malfeasance at all levels, or an accurate account of the happenings that night. Sounds like we’re unlikely to really find out. I wish police nationwide would realize that the “Blue Wall of Silence” does them a greater disservice than service.