Jury clears officer in man’s death

Keith Paul

Friday, Jan. 4, 2002 | 9:39 a.m.

Richard Travis Brown's family wasn't surprised when a Clark County coroner's inquest jury ruled Thursday a Metro Police officer was justified for shooting the accused robber in November, they just think the facts don't add up.

They wonder why the gun was so far away from Brown's body and none of the officers, except the officer who fired, ever saw the gun.

"I don't think he had the gun with him when he was shot," said Gloria Ericksen, Brown's mother-in-law. "The officers that went up to him after he was shot didn't see a gun."

Brown's wife, Brianne Brown, was blunt in her assertion. "I think they dropped the gun there."

The gun was found about 30 feet away from Brown's body, but assistant Clark County district attorney Mike Davidson quickly discounted that theory.

"If this is a fix, don't you think someone would have moved the gun closer to the body?" Davidson said. "There aren't always perfect explanations for some things."

By a 6-1 vote Thursday, the jury ruled Officer Bryan Yant, 25, was justified in the Nov. 17 shooting death of Brown.

Brown, 30, knew on Nov. 16 that the police were looking for him as a suspect in a series of convenience store, doughnut shop and pizza restaurant robberies. Investigators believe Brown robbed 41 stores between Oct. 28 and Nov 17.

When a convenience store clerk called police after being robbed about 3:20 a.m. Nov. 17, officers quickly started after the suspect.

Officer Frank Farmer testified he started to chase a white van, reportedly the getaway car, and followed it along some residential streets and on to Charleston Boulevard. He continued chasing the van at high speeds as the van's driver ran through red lights and stop signs.

The van sped away from Farmer's patrol car as the officer slowed at each intersection. Yant picked up the chase as the van spun out trying to turn on to Torrey Pines Drive, and Brown jumped out of the van and started running.

Yant testified he got out of his police car and started running after Brown down Bristol Way.

"He was running and put his hand in his pocket. I started yelling, 'Let me see your hands. I know you have the gun,' " said Yant, a rookie officer.

Yant said he fired several shots when Brown pointed his right arm behind him with something black in his hand. Yant believed the object was the gun. Yant said he was fearful that Brown would shoot at him or run into a nearby house and take someone hostage.

Brown went to the ground after getting hit by the bullets. Once on the ground, Yant testified, Brown curled up in the fetal position, but still did not drop the gun.

"I see him extend his arm back and look up trying to see where I was," Yank said. "He's got it (the gun) clenched in his fist. I yell again for him to drop the gun."

Yant testified he fired a second round of shots when Brown didn't drop the gun. He said he then heard a click and saw that Brown had just dropped the gun behind his head.

Farmer and two other officers had showed up just after the second round of shots. The two officers -- Rafael Ramos and Jerry Ybarra -- then moved up to Brown and handcuffed him after having to struggle with him.

An ambulance was called just after the shots and officers started CPR. Brown was taken to University Medical Center, but died at 9 a.m. -- about 4 1/2 hours after the shooting. In all Brown was hit five times with the eight shots fired by Yant in the two volleys of shoots.

Davidson asked Ramos and Ybarra if they saw a gun near Brown's head, but both testified they didn't. Ybarra said he may have inadvertently kicked it when trying to handcuff Brown, but didn't know.

Brianne Brown and Ericksen said there is no way someone would have just accidentally kicked the gun that far.

"We're not saying he's not guilty of the armed robberies, but he shouldn't have been killed," Ericksen said. "It just doesn't make any sense. They (the officers) were contradicting their testimony. None of them testified they saw a gun."

Brianne Brown acknowledged that her husband had a drug problem. She even wrote him a letter in September -- which was found in the white van used as a getaway car from the robbery -- that the drugs were more important to him than his wife or son.

Police have said Brown's life dissolved after Oct. 28 into a three-week spree of little more than sticking a snub-nosed revolver in the faces of clerks and demanding money to get cash to buy drugs.

Robbery Detective Luis Araujo said that people described Brown as a really nice guy when not on crack cocaine. Clerks told police that the robber -- later identified through security video as Brown -- would apologize after robbing them.

But when he was on the drugs and robbing, Araujo said, Brown would be much more aggressive and not apologetic.

Brianne doesn't dispute her husband was a different person on drugs, but doesn't see the shooting as justified. She said the killing could be considered excusable -- a ruling still not considered criminal.

Ericksen said she doesn't blame the officer and doesn't want to see him punished.

"I think the officer was scared," she said, agreeing with Brianne Brown that the killing could be seen as excusable not justified.

Yant, who has been on paid administrative leave since the shooting per department policy, can return to duty following the inquest jury's verdict.