Duquesne University police get body cams, as sought by hunger-striking mother of student who died in 2018
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Duquesne University has completed its purchase of body cameras for its campus police, one of the demands made by Dannielle Brown, who has been on hunger strike since July over the 2018 death of her son at Duquesne.
The first year of the program will cost the school $90,000, which includes the cost of the physical cameras. The technology will cost $43,000 a year after that. Officials said in a statement the cameras should arrive in the next three weeks, but they’re attempting to have shipping expedited.
Brown, of Washington, D.C., could not immediately be reached for comment.
Brown is living part-time in Pittsburgh while she continues her hunger strike in protest of Duquesne’s handling of the death of her son, Marquis Jaylen “JB” Brown, in October 2018.
JB Brown died after he jumped from his 16th-floor dorm room window. Authorities have said the 21-year-old returned from an off-campus apartment acting erratically. Campus police were called, and two officers and a residential assistant were in the room when JB Brown used a chair to smash the window and jump out.
Authorities in 2019 said the football player had marijuana in his system, and university officials have said they suspect it was synthetic marijuana, which affects an individual differently than normal marijuana.
The statement reiterated that university officials do not believe officers did anything wrong the night of JB Brown’s death but “believe that body cameras are a public safety and community relations best practice.”
The statement noted the university had already been looking into body cameras prior to October 2018.
Brown came to Pittsburgh and began her hunger strike July 4, and she has issued three demands of the university: that she be given access to the file on her son’s death to conduct her own investigation; the university equip its officers with body-worn cameras; and officers receive increased crisis-intervention training.
University officials have also filed a motion asking the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court to require Brown to specify what, exactly, she intends to sue the university for, according to the statement. Court records show Brown in February 2019 filed a praecipe for a writ of summons — a document filled out by someone intending to sue another party that sets the legal process in motion.
The praecipe for a writ of summons was the first and last filing from Brown. The university noted that Brown’s apparent lack of legal counsel has “made it impossible for Duquesne’s counsel to provide, through the proper legal channels and following the correct procedures, documents and information that Ms. Brown continues to demand.”
A confidentiality agreement required by Duquesne before Brown can have access to the full file on her son’s death has created a monthslong impasse between the mother and the school. University officials have said they’ve presented her with a standard nondisclosure agreement. Brown, however, has said it is not standard and she wants full access “without stipulation.”
The hope, officials said in the statement, is that by asking the court to nudge the legal process forward, “the traditional methods of obtaining evidence and testimony” will allow Brown to have all the evidence she’s asked for.”