SHREVEPORT, La. (Legal Newsline) – The Shreveport Police Department is defending its past as it fights the wrongful death lawsuit over the shooting of Desmond Lewis.
“In her 25-page complaint, Plaintiff attempts to negatively portray the Shreveport Police Department as a ‘troubled agency’ by referring to singular, isolated incidents which are wholly irrelevant to this instant case, and by repeatedly setting forth speculative and conclusory allegations of constitutional violations without any factual support,” lawyers for the city wrote in a March 29 motion to dismiss in Louisiana federal court.
According to the lawsuit, on Sept. 11, 2021, Lewis left his mother Ingrid’s house to go to a Circle K store. Officer Demetrius Horton arrived at the Circle K while Lewis was still on the premises and he allegedly began harassing Lewis, causing Lewis to decide to leave.
According to witnesses, Lewis appeared to be running away from Horton as if he were scared, the suit says. Witnesses claim that Horton then tackled Lewis, straddled on top of him and fired shots into Lewis at close range, the suit says.
The complaint lists five incidents of alleged beatings and tasings by Shreveport PD between 2019-20, including one that resulted in the death of a man. It also claims a “large number of excessive force cases” in a four-year period.
“Experts say Shreveport’s police department has all the trademarks of a troubled agency in need of outside intervention,” the complaint says.
In February 2019, a Black man was chased by police because his shorts were sagging below his waistline, violating a former city ordinance, the suit says.
Officer Trevelon Brooks hopped a curb in his patrol vehicle and nearly hit Anthony Childs, the suit says. It led to a one-sided shootout, it adds.
“It was alleged that Brooks believed Childs to be armed so he fired two shots,” the complaint says. “After a brief pause, three more shots were fired. More than 10 seconds pass, a period during which Brooks calls in the shooting. Then he says, ‘Hey, show me your hands,’ and four more shots are fired.
“Childs died as a result of the incident. Of the nine shots fired, at least eight came from Brooks’ gun, hitting Childs three times.”
Listing this and incidents of use of force by other officers is insufficient state a claim for constitutional violations, Shreveport PD says. The motion seeks dismissal of Monell claims against the city and Horton.
“The fact that Mr. Childs was shot and killed by an officer who believed Mr. Childs to be armed is woefully insufficient to demonstrate a constitutional violation,” the motion to dismiss says.
No pattern can be proven, the motion adds, that proves a training deficiency caused Lewis’ death.