Teen’s family files lawsuit against city, officers in fatal police shooting

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/12/2021 (1407 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The family of Eishia Hudson has filed a lawsuit against city police and two unidentified constables seeking “maximum amount of damages and compensation” after the 16-year-old girl was shot and killed following a liquor-store robbery and chase in April 2020.

“Eishia died as a direct result of the grossly excessive use of police force by Constable 1 and Constable 2, as the drawing of police firearms and the shooting was an unnecessary , unjust and an excessive use of force in all of the circumstances,” alleges a statement of claim filed Wednesday in Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench.

Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth and the City of Winnipeg are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.

Smyth, the lawsuit alleges, was “reckless, careless and negligent” for failing to address systemic racism within the police service and failing to adequately train officers in the appropriate use of force.

Hudson was behind the wheel of a stolen Jeep Grand Cherokee with four passengers when two police cruisers, responding to a report of a liquor store robbery in the Sage Creek neighbourhood, chased the vehicle to the vicinity of the intersection of Lagimodiere Boulevard and Fermor Avenue, where the jeep crossed the meridian and collided with a pickup truck before coming to a stop.

The lawsuit alleges the two unnamed constables arrived at the scene and ran toward the jeep with their guns drawn. One constable, who would later say he identified Hudson as an Indigenous male, shot her before or at the same time the jeep was slowly moving backward on to the meridian, alleges the lawsuit. The jeep stopped moving or was in the process of stopping when the constable fired a second shot at Hudson.

“The plaintiffs allege that Constable 1’s decision to shoot Eishia, who he thought was an Indigenous teenage male, was made due to racist assumptions about Indigenous youths and to stop Eishia from escaping,” alleges the lawsuit.

“At the time of the shooting, Eishia was not a material threat to the (officers) on the scene or any of the civilians,” the lawsuit alleges. “The vehicle she was operating was damaged and essentially immobile at the time of the shooting. Eishia was treated with indignity and disregard for her life and as such she died on the pavement of the scene immediately after being shot.”

The findings of an investigation by the Manitoba Independent Investigation Unit were forwarded to Manitoba Prosecution Service, which, in a December 2020 report, did not authorize criminal charges in the case.

The lawsuit alleges the report is invalid due to Manitoba Prosecution Service’s “close working proximity” to Winnipeg police.

The allegations have not been proven in court.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca