“No Reverence for Life." $20M Suit says Stephon Clark Posed No Threat to White Sacramento Cops who Shot at Him 20X while Holding a Cell Phone in His Backyard & Prevented Medics From Rendering Aid

From [HERE] The family of a Black man shot in a barrage of bullets fired by Sacramento police has filed a $20 million federal lawsuit, claiming officers racially profiled the victim in a case that's drawn national interest in the ongoing debate about excessive force.

Lawyers for the family of Stephon Clark say the officers failed to identify themselves as police before they abruptly began firing at Clark in his grandparents' backyard on March 18. Officers suggested in a preliminary investigation that they thought Clark had a gun, but he was only carrying a cellphone when he died.

"The involved officers . . . fired 20 shots striking (Clark) approximately eight times," including shots as he was going to the ground and shots after he had already went down to the ground. At the time of the shooting, DECEDENT was unarmed, with nothing but a cell phone in his hand.”

"The conduct of officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet was willful, wanton, malicious, and done with reckless disregard for the rights and safety" of Clark, the lawsuit alleges. It says the officers violated Clark's basic civil rights.

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.

Officers did not give Clark a verbal warning that deadly force would be used prior to shooting him multiple times, despite it being feasible to do so and they did not issue appropriate commands to Clark. Further, the involved officers did not announce themselves as police prior to the shooting.

Further, Clark was not suspected of committing any serious crime, the involved officers did not observe him commit any crime, the involved officers had no information that he was armed with a weapon, and there was no information that he had physically injured anyone.

The involved officers shot Clark even though he was not an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury to the officers or anyone else and there were other less than lethal options available. Officers TERRENCE MERCADAL and JARED ROBINET did not show a reverence for human life.

The involved officers are responsible for every single shot they fired and this was not an immediate defense of life situation.

After striking Clark approximately eight (8) times, TERRENCE MERCADAL and JARED ROBINET did not provide or summons timely medical attention for Clark, who was bleeding profusely and had obvious serious injuries, and TERRENCE MERCADAL and JARED ROBINET also did not allow and prevented responding medical personnel on-scene to timely render medical aid/assistance to him. [MORE]

10 months after the incident the Sacramento District Attorney's Office said in a statement that it is continuing its review of the case to see if criminal charges might apply. [Dont hold your breath in system of injustice].

"As always, our review will only address the question of whether the conduct of the two Sacramento Police officers constitutes a prosecutable crime under established California law," the statement said.

The California Attorney General’s Office has previously indicated it will also conduct an independent review of the incident.