The Philip Brown Case Tells Us What to Expect After Federal Agents Shoot Someone

Photograph Source: usicegov – Public Domain

When Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot at Phillip Brown’s car in Washington, D.C., last fall, the outcome offered a revealing lesson about accountability in the age of expanded federal policing. A federal agent fired, Brown lived, and the system’s response was quiet: no criminal charges for the shooter, limited public information, and a fast fade from national attention. (WUSA9)

At the time, it was possible to treat Brown’s case as a local scandal...