A $5-million federal lawsuit over the Indianola, Miss., police shooting of then-11-year-old Aderrien Murry will not proceed after a judge dismissed it on July 19, citing the fact that the boy’s mother did not allege that an Indianola officer intentionally shot him.
The lawsuit named the City of Indianola, the Indianola Police Department, Indianola Police Officer Greg Capers, Indianola Police Chief Ronald Sampson and “John Does 1-5” as defendants.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi Judge Debra M. Brown said in her ruling that the lawsuit failed to state claims of civil-rights violations, that Murry did not wait the required 90 days before filing the lawsuit and that the notice of lawsuit letter did not align with the requirements in the Mississippi Tort Claims Act.
Read Judge Debra M. Brown’s ruling dismissing the Murry family’s lawsuit.
“Because Murry does not allege that Capers intentionally shot A.M., she fails to sufficiently state claims for Fourth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment violations based on excessive force, and Capers and Sampson are entitled to qualified immunity,” Judge Brown wrote.
The Murrys’ attorney Carlos Moore told the Mississippi Free Press on July 26 that they plan to file a motion to amend the complaint to allege that Capers intentionally shot Aderrien Murry.
Capers’ attorney Michael Carr predicted that the judge will dismiss the amended complaint because of the lack of evidence.
“They can amend their complaint in any form or manner that they want to as long as they have facts and evidence to support it. If they don’t, it’s going to be dismissed, and there’s no evidence that Greg Capers intentionally shot Aderrien Murry,” Carr told the Mississippi Free Press on July 26.
Brown wrote that she did not want either the Indianola Police Department nor the Murrys to release the video footage of Capers shooting Aderrien Murry to protect the privacy of the 11-year-old. The Murrys argued in the lawsuit that the public should be able to watch the footage because Aderrien Murry’s name and image are well-circulated in the media at this
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