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Family Sues City Over Dad Mistakenly Fatally Shot By Cops During Break-In
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 17, 2012
Modified Oct 17, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 17, 2012
Modified Oct 17, 2012
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Last winter, a Brooklyn father was fatally shot by police who were investigating a possible break-in at his home. Duane Browne, 26, was killed during a confrontation wrought with confusion after police responded to a 911 call on January 12th in his East New York home. The family has now filed a $10 million wrongful death suit against the city on behalf of Browne's 8-year-old son. They say third-grader Dasani Browne has been devastated since his father's death: “He’s not the same,” Dasani’s grandmother, Alice Bynoe-Browne, told the Daily News. “He says, ‘I don’t have a daddy anymore.’”
Browne and his girlfriend Renita Ferdinand were watching a movie in their home at 943 Schenk Avenue the night the fatal shooting occurred. The couple lived on the top floor, while his half-brother Dale Ogarro lived on the bottom floor and his mother lived on the main floor. Browne went to check on a commotion downstairs from his brother's apartment, and saw him being beaten in the basement by two masked men.
Police said uniformed officers came after a woman outside called 911, claiming her boyfriend Ogarro was being robbed by two gunmen. At the same time, Browne raced upstairs to retrieve a loaded .38-caliber revolver. He came back down just as police arrived. “He failed to comply with an officer’s instructions not to move and was shot once in the chest,” NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said at the time. He staggered upstairs and reportedly said to this girlfriend, “I just got shot. Call the cops.”
Police officials claimed they ordered Browne to "freeze," but the family claims in the lawsuit that cops fired without identifying themselves or saying a word. The lawsuit also claims that police kept paramedics from treating Browne for critical minutes while they rummaged through the house searching for incriminating evidence—it took approximately seven minutes from when the ambulance arrived to when he left the scene.
Browne had a string of arrests, mostly for marijuana possession, between 2001 and 2009, but the family said he had turned himself around and recently passed the entrance exam to the NYPD before his death.
Tagged
brooklyn
cops
dad
duane browne
east new york
father
lawsuit
nypd
police
shooting
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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