Cop Claimed Leonard Parker was Accelerating toward him when he opened fire but Multiple Witnesses Say Black Man's Car Crept to a Complete Stop Prior to being Shot to Death for No Reason; Suit Filed

From [HERE] The wife of Leonard Parker, a Georgia man shot and killed by a Gulfport police officer last year, is seeking unspecified damages in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the officer, the city of Gulfport and five other officers.

The lawsuit claims Officer Jason Cuevas, who shot Parker, used excessive force. It also alleges the five other officers failed to intervene and that the city of Gulfport is responsible for Parker’s wrongful death.

On Feb. 1, 2020, Parker was driving away from a house party on a quiet block of 25th Street. According to investigative documents obtained by the Sun Herald, Cuevas, who was responding to a 911 call about a domestic disturbance at the party, was walking toward Parker’s truck and believed Parker was accelerating toward him when he opened fire, striking Parker once in the head.

In addition, the lawsuit alleges Parker was unaware that Cuevas was nearby, that Cuevas failed to identify himself as an officer, and that officers had not activated lights or sirens to alert people of their presence. It also states Parker was not attempting to flee or to strike Cuevas with his truck.

“The actions of defendant Jason Cuevas were objectively unreasonable and were undertaken intentionally with willful indifference to Leonard Parker, Jr.’s constitutional rights,” says the lawsuit filed by Jackson attorney Charles Mullins.

The lawsuit also says five other officers were with Cuevas as he approached the residence before shooting Parker.

The other officers, the suit says, “knew or had reason to know that the use of deadly force was disproportionate and excessive” and should have intervened to protect Parker.

But the investigative file the Sun Herald reviewed in May, including video footage of investigators’ interview with Cuevas, indicates other officers arrived on the scene only after Cuevas had shot Parker.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs to cover medical and funeral expenses and other relief.

The family is demanding a jury trial.

A Harrison County grand jury cleared Cuevas of criminal conduct in March. The Parker family’s attorneys, which include attorneys who represented the family of George Floyd in their civil suit against Minneapolis, announced their intent to sue Gulfport in April.

Mullins is the Mississippi-based lawyer working on the case with the other out-of-state attorneys.