February 7, 2021 GMT
SEATTLE (AP) A federal judge refused to dismiss a civil rights lawsuit filed against the Washington state city of Kent and a police officer involved in a 2017 fatal shooting of an unarmed Giovonn Joseph-McDade.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein said in her order Thursday that the evidence disputes claims that the 20-year-old Joseph-McDade had fled from police at high speed and was poised to run over Kent police officer William Davis when Davis shot and killed Joseph-McDade.
“There is no suggestion in this case that Joseph-McDade had committed a crime involving the infliction or threatened infliction of serious physical harm prior to the car chase,” Rothstein wrote.