Mike Brown's family files wrongful death lawsuit

By J.A. Salaam | Last updated: Apr 28, 2015 - 8:10:41 AM

L-R) Atty. Ben Crump, Lesley McSpadden, Atty. Anthony Gray, Michael Brown Sr., and activist Anthony Shahid at press conference announcing civil lawsuit against city of Ferguson. Photo: J.A. Salaam

FERGUSON, Mo. (FinalCall.com) - Last August, 18-year-old Mike Brown Jr. was shot by a White officer and his body lay in the hot sun for four-and-a-half hours. Former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who shot the teen multiple times, was not charged with a crime and a highly militarized police force, the National Guard, a federal probe, protests, clashes and uprisings captured world attention.

The Brown family is now seeking monetary damages for the wrongful death of their son and announced a civil lawsuit April 23 at press conference outside of the St. Louis County Courthouse. Supporters of the Brown family were present and one person showed up with a “I support Darren Wilson” sign.

“We are here to present our case, we have seen the case presented by the state, by the federal government, and obviously we take dispute with how those cases were presented. We’ve said from the beginning that presentation of evidence is key, the way it’s highlighted, the inflections of certain aspects of it is very critical to shaping any kind of conclusions or any kind of findings as a result of what happened on August 9, 2014,” said Brown family Anthony Gray. “The evidence has not changed but the presentation of the evidence will. We expect to put on evidence that you have never heard about before and have never seen,” he added.

“To be very frankly and honest with you we don’t have to go very far from Darren Wilson’s statement. His initial statement to his supervisor, describing what happened that day was sufficient to indict him. We know now that he’s up to his fifth version, it’s been defined, it’s been perfected and now he wants us to believe that he was a five-year-old sitting inside of a police car trapped inside in the worse tactical position that he could be in, sitting down, being attacked by someone like Hulk Hogan, absolutely incredible,” continued Attorney Gray.

Tears began to run down the face of Lesley McSpadden as the lawyer recounted how her son was shot down in the street. Her agony was palpable and several people wept with her.

“There’s forensic and physical evidence in this case ladies and gentlemen that totally contradicts what we have characterize as a concocted version of events as from the very beginning,” said Atty. Gray. “The main person we focused on was Darren Wilson. We studied his narrative, because he chose to pump bullet, after bullet, after bullet into Mike Brown Jr.’s body. It’s his decision and his narrative of what we are looking at; take everybody else out the equation.”

Atty. Benjamin Crump, who also represents the family, said, “Still today we don’t believe the shooter of an unarmed 18-year-old teenager has ever been cross- examined. And when you allow a person to not be cross-examined, they can get the story, the narrative, the way they want it. What we wanted was to have a thorough independent review where the narrative of the police officer who killed Michael Brown, Jr. is going to be challenged. And now we see all across America that the narratives of the law enforcement officers when they kill unarmed people of color it’s the same narrative: ‘I felt in fear of my life,’ ‘he was reaching for a weapon,’ ‘I had to shoot that was my only alternative.’ ”

But videos of the police shooting of Walter Scott, a Black man, by a police officer in Charleston, S.C., and the police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, a Black child in Cleveland, and other cases contradict the “fear for my life” police narrative, said Atty. Crump.

“So the question is when will America challenge the standard police narratives when they kill unarmed people of color? America cannot continue to sanction police killing of people of color and keep getting away with it,” Atty. Crump said.

It’s not the parents of Mike Brown filing this lawsuit; it’s the forensic evidence that’s filing this lawsuit and showing evidence of wrongdoing, the lawyers said.

Mike Johnson, a Ferguson protestor at the press conference, felt for the family. He wasn’t optimistic about a successful lawsuit. Whites “don’t care man, we’ll see what happens. I hope they get something out of this, I do, but I don’t see it,” he said.

“The city has received a copy of the lawsuit but have not looked at it in its entirety, but since it is pending litigation, there’s no comment at this time,” said Jeff Small, a spokesperson for the city of Ferguson.

The lawsuit is for at least $75,000, dealing with some costs such as attorneys’ fees.

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