Children of Alton Sterling sue Baton Rouge, police department
3rd July 2017 · 0 Comments
A week before the first anniversary of the tragic, officer-involved shooting of 37-year-old Alton Sterling over the Fourth of July weekend last summer, his children filed a lawsuit against the city of Baton Rouge claiming that the shooting was part of a pattern of unconstitutional policing, racism and excessive force being used by the Baton Rouge Police Department.
The lawsuit was filed last Tuesday and comes in the wake of a decision in May by the U.S. Department of Justice not to file charges against the two officers involved in Sterling’s death.
Sterling, the father of five, was killed by police while selling mix tape CDs outside a convenience store in south Baton Rouge.
Although the DOJ decided not to file charges against the officers, its investigation did reveal that one of the officers involved in the incident pointed a gun at Sterling’s head and began shouting expletives within seconds of arriving on the scene.
The owner of the Triple S Food Mart, who gave Sterling permission to sell CDs outside of his store, has already filed a lawsuit which claims that Baton Rouge police violated his constitutional rights by detaining him indefinitely inside of an unairconditioned police vehicle, forcing him to relieve himself on the side of his store and gaining access to his video surveillance without a warrant or his permission.
The Sterling incident and the officer-involved killing of Philando Castille in Minneapolis, MN spurred nationwide protests that culminated in the killing of five police officers in Dallas, Texas and three officers in Baton Rouge.
The Associated Press reported that attorneys for Alton Sterling’s five children filed the wrongful death lawsuit last Tuesday in state court against the city of Baton Rouge, its police department and police chief and the two officers involved in last summer’s deadly encounter. Officer Blane Salamoni shot Sterling six times during a struggle outside a convenience store after police received a complaint from someone who accused Sterling of pointing a gun at him.
The Justice Department investigated Sterling’s shooting and announced last month that it will not file charges against Salamoni or Officer Howie Lake II, who also wrestled Sterling to the ground but didn’t fire his gun.
The decision about whether to charge the officers with Sterling’s death fell to Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry after East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore recused himself from the case because of a connection to one of the officers involved in the incident.
The Associated Press reported that Landry’s office has launched its own probe of the case to determine if any state criminal charges are warranted.
The family’s lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, contends that Sterling’s death resulted from poor training and inadequate police procedures. The suit also cites two instances in which Baton Rouge police officers allegedly sent racist text messages to colleagues, including an apparent slur against people who protested Sterling’s death.
“The City of Baton Rouge has a long standing pervasive policy of tolerating racist behavior by some of its officers,” the suit says. “There have also been multiple verbal racist comments by officers reported to the department. This tolerance of such behavior directly leads to the mistreatment of individuals of African-American descent.”
Plaintiffs’ attorney L. Chris Stewart told The Associated Press that he expects current and former police officers to come forward, testify under oath and back up “everything” alleged in the suit.
“This isn’t just lawyers talking and arguing. We have talked to officers who have said something is wrong and it must stop,” Stewart said.
Two cellphone videos of the July 5 shooting quickly spread on social media, setting off nightly protests. The officers’ body cameras and a store surveillance camera also recorded the encounter, but those videos have not been publicly released.
Federal investigators found that Salamoni shot Sterling three times after saying that Sterling was reaching for a gun in his pocket, and fired three more shots into Sterling’s back when he began to sit up and move. The officers recovered a loaded revolver from Sterling’s pocket.
The June 27 lawsuit said that Sterling was in “agony” for minutes before he died “as a result of the vicious, negligent, and unreasonable fatal actions” of the officers.
Baton Rouge Police Sgt. Don Coppola, a department spokesman, told The Associated Press Tuesday that he can’t comment on pending litigation. An attorney for Salamoni didn’t immediately respond to a text message and voicemail seeking comment.
Acting U.S. Attorney Corey Amundson said during a news conference in May that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that Salamoni or Lake acted unreasonably and willfully after they responded to a report of a man with a gun outside the Triple S Food Mart.
The officers told Sterling to put his hands on the hood of a car and struggled with him when he didn’t comply, according to Amundson. Lake shocked Sterling with a stun gun before the officers wrestled him to the ground, Amundson said. Lake also is white.
Sterling had a history of “adverse breathing problems and could not lie on his back for any extended period of time,” the lawsuit said.
Both officers remain on administrative leave, a standard procedure.
Nearly 200 protesters were arrested in Baton Rouge last July after Sterling’s death. Racial tensions were simmering in the city when a Black military veteran from Missouri ambushed and killed three Baton Rouge law enforcement officers and wounded three others before being shot dead on July 17.
Among those who have called for the firing of the officers and the resignation of BRPD police chief were Sterling’s family members, justice advocates, members of the community and Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, who was elected after the officer-involved killing and vowed to implement major police reforms during her time in office.
“We can’t do anything to bring Alton Sterling back,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Michael Adams. “This is about his children and this is about bringing this community together.”
This article originally published in the July 3, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
