Bennett v. Spencer, et al.

Plaintiff was a mentally ill man whose mother called the police during a psychotic episode. Officers knew of his condition, that he may have a knife, and possibly suicidal. Several minutes passed and the man calmed down, sitting in a chair in the middle of a cul-de-sac. Upon arrival, officers immediately approached him and he stood up, with hands (and knife) down by his side completely still. The officer fired 4 rounds striking him once in the abdomen. P survived. Non-shooting officer lied in sworn statement and shooting officer echoed lie to initial backups. Surveillance video proved otherwise. Chain of command had seen the video and knew the officers’ statements were incorrect, but filed agg. assault charges against Plaintiff anyway. Only after the video was release to the media were charges dropped. The shooting officer was fired, non-shooting officer suspended 15 day for untruthfulness.