Fearing for his and his partner’s safety, a Chattanooga police officer testified Monday, he opened fire first on a 34-year-old man who brandished a silver handgun during a footchase in July.
Stephen Huckabee, a six-year veteran of the department, said he noticed Curtis Brown holding his waistband as he ran away from Sandy’s Mini Mart at 2404 Glass St. around 9 p.m. on July 11.
Curtis BrownMoments earlier, his colleague, officer Kelly Downs, had been called to the store because of “a disorder with a gun,” records show. When she arrived, Downs said Monday in Hamilton County General Sessions Court, she didn’t see a gun on Brown.
But then, the officers said, Brown refused to listen to orders, took off down a dark street, tripped on an embankment and came up raising a silver handgun as they followed.
“As he’s getting up, I yelled, “Kelly, he’s got a gun!'” Huckabee said. “At that point, I’ve never been in more fear of my life in six years of my career. When I saw the gun raising up, I’ve never been in more fear of my life.”