The family of Stephon Clark has filed a lawsuit against the city of Sacramento.
Clark’s family seeks $20 million in damages related to his death, reports The Sacramento Bee. Clark died in March 2018 after he was shot 20 times by Sacramento Police officers who were responding to a call about car break-ins. The department initially claimed he pointed a weapon at officers, but the only item recovered from his body was a cellphone.
Court documents name his children, parents and grandparents as plaintiffs. This lawsuit is the second filed by the 22-year-old’s family. A previous suit, filed in September 2018, requested $35 million. The family seeks damages for unreasonable search and seizure, excess force, denial of emergency medical care, failure to train, wrongful death and other causes.
The lawsuit accused the officers who shot Clark of failing to follow protocol.
“Both Officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet did not give (Clark) a verbal warning that deadly force would be used prior to shooting (Clark) multiple times, despite it being feasible to do so and they did not issue appropriate commands to (Clark),” court documents state.
“Further, the involved officers did not announce themselves as police prior to the shooting. (Clark) never verbally threatened anyone prior to being fatally shot by Officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet.”
The Clark family also accused the officers of shooting Clark as he succumbed to his injuries.
“At the time of the shooting (Clark) posed no immediate threat of death or serious physical injury to either Officers Terrence Mercadal or Jared Robinet, or any other person, especially since he was unarmed and since he was going to the ground or already on the ground when he was shot, including multiple shots to his back,” the claim said.
The complaint blamed the city of Sacramento for failing to train the officers properly and stated the lack of training is an ongoing issue.
“The training policies of the defendant city police department were not adequate to train its police officers … with regards to using deadly force,” the suit continued.
“As a result, city police officers … are not able to handle the usual and recurring situations with which they must deal, including making contact with unarmed individuals holding a cell phone. These inadequate training policies existed prior to the date of this incident and continue to this day.”
City Attorney Susana Alcala-Wood issued a brief statement about the lawsuit.
“Out of deference to the judicial process and because this is a matter of active litigation, we respectfully decline to comment,” said Alcala-Wood.
The Sacramento Police Department and its union also refused to speak.
This lawsuit was filed the same day the district attorney’s office announced a delay in its investigation of Clark’s death, according to KCRA.
"We received further substantial investigative reports and related materials from the Attorney General’s Department of Justice investigators,” the office said in a statement.
"We will take whatever time is needed to ensure a fair, thorough, and accurate review of this matter. Because this matter is under review and is still pending, ethical obligations prevent us from commenting further at this time. Once a decision is made, details will be provided."
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