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Family Releases Video of Man Being Run Over by Cop

By Aditi Mukherji, JD on September 24, 2013 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

A cop who ran over and killed a Florida man won't be facing criminal charges, a grand jury has determined. Marlon Brown was being chased by police in DeLand, north of Orlando, for an alleged seatbelt violation when he started running and was ultimately run over and killed by a police car.

Last week, a grand jury decided not to indict Officer James Harris on a criminal charge of vehicular manslaughter.

That's when the family decided to publicly release the police dash cam video, which recorded the entire incident.

Dash Cam Video

The dash cam video shows Harris' police car following two other cop cars into a residential area, where Brown took off running through a grassy plot. The other two cops stopped, but Harris kept driving. At one point, Brown fell to the ground. While on the ground, he turned and faced Harris' car. In matter of seconds, Brown's face disappears followed by a thud.

"I think he's underneath the (expletive) car," a voice off camera can be heard saying.

You can see the video in this clip obtained by CNN:

No Vehicular Manslaughter Charges

The video alone prompted Harris' being fired. Given the graphic nature of the video and how clearly it shows what transpired, the family expected vehicular manslaughter charges would follow. In Florida, a personcan be charged with vehicular manslaughter for killing another through reckless driving.

But prosecutor R.J. Larizza decided to present the evidence to a grand jury instead of filing charges. Larizza said the controversial nature of the incident compelled him to defer to a grand jury comprised of community members, reports CNN.

If the grand jury had chosen to indict, the trial would most likely have begun faster. Without a grand jury indictment, the prosecutor has to demonstrate to the trial judge that he has enough evidence to continue with the case.

The city of DeLand has already paid the family $550,000 in a settlement, but the city did not admit any wrongdoing, according to Krystal Brown, the ex-wife and mother of Brown's children. The family decided to go public with their story to garner public support to urge officials to file criminal charges for Brown's death.

"We're just asking for justice, nothing extra," she said, "nothing no one else would want for their family member."

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