$50 Million Suit Filed Against Phoenix: White Cop Shot Black Man in the Back with hollow-tipped Bullet Causing Paralysis - Not Under Arrest, Chased because He Ran

From [HERE] Edward Brown lost his ability to walk when a Phoenix police officer shot him in the back Aug. 5.

The paralyzed Black man filed a claim with the city of Phoenix seeking $50 million in damages, The Arizona Republic reported.

Last week, Former Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne filed a notice of claim against the city of Phoenix, the Phoenix Police Department and Officer Kenneth Silvia, on behalf of 35-year-old Edward Brown, who was shot in August. 

The claim -- a precursor to a lawsuit -- says that Silvia committed battery, used unreasonable force and violated Brown's rights during the incident. The officer fired a hollow-tipped bullet that shattered Brown's spine and punctured his lungs.

The Phoenix Police Department confirmed to The Arizona Republic that neither officer involved in the incident was equipped with a body-worn camera.

"Prior to the shooting he was a physically active person," the claim says. "This is a cosmically tragic event for him, for the rest of his life... Evaluating a number for losing the quality of one's life is obviously subjective. However, considering all the circumstances, we are willing to settle this case for $50 million."

Brown previously said he was racially profiled during the incident, according to KNXV-TV.

According to police documents, officers responded to the area of 21st Avenue and Glenrosa on Aug. 5 because of reports of “possible drug activity” in an alley.

When officers arrived, there was a group of people in that area that scattered.

The incident report stated Brown ran away, tried to jump a fence, reached down toward his foot, turned around and ran back toward the officer and “swiped” at the officer’s gun.

The officer, according to court documents, shot Brown because he tried to get the officer’s gun.

Brown, who was unarmed, denied trying to grab the officer’s gun.

“If Edward had been trying to take a gun away from the police officer, as has been alleged, as it has come from the police department, he would've been shot in the front, not in the back,” said Horne.

The incident report also stated during an interview, “Brown admitted to running from officers because he had a felony warrant.” [As it pertains to white citizen subjects, the Supreme Court has held that without more, flight or running from the presence of cops is not a basis for arrest and does not establish probable cause. [MORE] 

The attorney also said that his client was mistreated while he was held in jail, alleging that corrections officers did not help Brown get from his bed to the toilet. Instead they left him alone in his wheelchair. Horne said Brown's catheter was removed before his imprisonment and officers eventually found him soaked in his own urine and feces.

"The way [Brown] was treated constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution," he said.

A grand jury indicted Brown for aggravated assault of a police officer and possession of marijuana — despite Brown possessing a medical marijuana card. He has a hearing scheduled for November 6 in Maricopa County Superior Court. 

“I definitely feel like it was racially motivated,” said his sister-in-law Jodi Jackson. “Hearing him suffer, not receiving medical attention, it's been difficult.”

The family has created an online fundraiser to help pay for legal expenses: https://www.gofundme.com/another-innocent-unarmed-suspect