The family of Tommie McGlothen Jr., a mentally ill man who died after being in Shreveport Police custody, is seeking a 25 million dollar wrongful death settlement from the City of Shreveport.
Video shows McGlothen being severely beaten for several minutes after being subdued by officers, he was then left unattended in a police cruiser for 48 minutes and later died. Family attorney James Carter says it’s an opportunity for the city “to show true humanity and do the right thing”.
“We don’t think it is enough,” said Carter. “We are trying to get closure to this situation, or some modicum of closure for the family and this is an opportunity potentially for the family to get some closure and move forward.”
The incident occurred on April 5th and the four officers involved are now also facing negligent homicide and malfeasance criminal charges.
Carter said they have a strong case and notes the Shreveport City Council has requested the Department of Justice investigate SPD for patterns of civil rights violations.
“Obviously there is an understanding that there are methodologies and ways that this police department has gone forward that have violated the rights of citizens,” said Carter.
Carter hoped the city won’t drag this out by waiting for the criminal side of this case to be settled.
“The Breonna Taylor case, there is the William Green case whereby those progressive jurisdictions decided to resolve these matters before the criminal components of these cases were resolved,” said Carter.
Carter said the City has until Thursday to respond to the request or the family will file a lawsuit seeking those damages. Mayor Adrian Perkins, who is currently running for Senate, had no comment on the pending litigation.
Comments