'Black Man, Yellow Shirt.' White Cops Had No Other ID Info When They Shot Marquez Smart in the Back 5 Times, 3X at Close Range. He was Unarmed and Hadn't Committed a Crime. Wichita to pay $900K

From [HERE] The family of an innocent 23-year-old Black man who was fatally shot by police in 2012 has reached a $900,000 settlement in their lawsuit against the city of Wichita. He was unarmed.

The settlement comes just weeks before claims in an excessive force lawsuit filed by the parents of Marquez Smart were set for jury trial in federal court. Smart’s parents, Brenda and Randall Smart, sued the city over the shooting in 2014, alleging Wichita police officers Lee Froese and Aaron Chaffee violated their son’s Constitutional rights.

Marquez Smart was shot to death by officers Aaron Chaffee and Lee Froese. in March of 2012. Police allege that Smart, a man with no criminal record and no ties to gangs, opened fire on a crowd of people as they left the clubs in the area. However, there is no physical evidence tying Smart to the gun.

The only evidence the police department has against Smart is that he was wearing a yellow shirt, and the shooter was also wearing a yellow shirt. That is, at the time of shooting the white cops had no other corroborating details, such the suspect's height, weight, build, complexion, hair style/length, tattoos, facial hair, age or what color pants or whether the suspect had a hat on, a hoodie etc. He was black with a yellow shirt and that was good enough to these white public masters.

The white police officers, in their attempt to subdue the shooter, wounded multiple people, but Smart was the only fatality. One of the other people wounded that night was also wearing a yellow shirt, according to a lawsuit filed by Smart’s family. Witnesses claim that officers opened fire on Smart and then shot him “execution style”, while he was lying on the ground. Their testimony was not included in the DA’s report.

Evidence suggests three of the bullets hit Smart in the back while he was unarmed and lying face down on the ground with his arms outstretched. He died later at a Wichita hospital.

Three years ago, in 2018, a federal court judge ruled the lawsuit should be dismissed because the officers were protected by qualified immunity [means law of the jungle legal standard]. But a three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed the decision last year, saying a jury should decide whether the officers violated Smart’s rights.

The Wichita City Council on Tuesday voted 5-1 to approve the $900,000 settlement following two 10-minute executive sessions. Council member Bryan Frye voted against approving the settlement. Council member Jeff Blubaugh was absent.

An attorney representing Smart’s parents in the case said while “the family is relieved a settlement was reached, they deeply miss their son.”

According to the complaint

‘Marquez Smart spent the entire day with his cousin. At no time during the day did his cousin see that Marquez Smart had a weapon of any type. He was wearing a yellow shirt. That evening, several clubs in addition to Doc Howards in the Old Town district in Wichita were having concerts. Pleasure P was expected to draw a large crowd of young people. Anyone who went to the concert at Doc Howards had to submit to search by the club to make sure they had no weapons on them.

Marquez Smart and his cousin went to the concert at Doc Howards, and were admitted into the club after submitting to the search for weapons.

The police report they were especially concerned about the possibility of gang-related violence. Therefore, officers were paying particular attention to any known gang members and their associates.

Police had significant uniform and undercover officer presence to help manage the crowd at closing time. Officer Chaffee arrived at Mosley between 12:00 a.m. and 12:30 a.m.

Several minor disturbances had already occurred, but had been resolved, that evening, mostly having to do with crowd control and congestion.

The concert let out of Doc Howards at 1:45 a.m. There were about 400-500 people in the entire immediate district attending the various concerts, and an estimated 100-200 in the immediate vicinity of the Old Town Hotel parking garage.

Suddenly, there was a short scuffle, a yell, and a shot fired in the crowd north of the sculpture. Officers Froese saw a black male with a yellow shirt holding a handgun with his right hand, and, with his arm extended, he fired again.

When the shooter started firing, someone called out, “It’s the guy in the yellow!” The large crowd in the immediate vicinity started scattering in all directions.

The shooter then ran through the panicked crowd, north on the west side of Mosley toward the parking garage, fumbling with his handgun. A loaded magazine to a .45 caliber handgun was later discovered lying on the sidewalk north of the sculpture. There was a cartridge incorrectly loaded backwards in the magazine.

Froese gave chase, running northwesterly across Mosely after the shooter, firing repeatedly as the man in the yellow shirt ran through the crowd toward Froese’s parked patrol car.

Shortly before the shooting, Marquez Smart and his cousin were walking south, talking with friends on the sidewalk east of the parking garage and near the sculpture on the west side of Mosley.

Suddenly, Marquez Smart was knocked down from behind and fell into his cousin. The force of the blow was so hard that Marquez dropped and broke his glasses.

The two cousins fell together to the sidewalk as a shot was fired close to them. Marquez Smart and his cousin began running as quickly as they could get to their feet, both northward toward the parking garage northeast entrance and exit and the alleyway.

Marquez’s cousin ran behind Froese’s patrol car into the parking garage and exited on the west side, losing sight and contact with Marquez. Marquez ran in front of Froese’s parked patrol car, sitting in the parking garage northeast entrance, and in the alleyway.

After Chaffee reached the street level, he regained sight of a yellow shirt worn by a man running into the alleyway. Officer Chaffee maintained, however, that even though he had turned his back, he
could see “that yellow shirt moving through the crowd.”

Officer Chaffee has stated he did give commands for the man to stop and drop the gun. A witness has stated that Officer Chaffee fired, and the man in a yellow shirt fell face down, his arms outstretched and his head nodding, as if in complete surrender.

A witness who was near Officer Chaffee states that there was no handgun in or near the hands of the wounded man Chaffee had shot.

The witness further states that he observed Officer Chaffee fire his handgun “2-3” times into the back of the wounded man in the alleyway, despite the man being completely submissive.The witness states that the distance from Chaffee to the man he killed when he fired his handgun was approximately from five to seven feet.

When the witness questioned Officer Chaffee’s actions in shooting the man, the witness and another person who had been standing nearby were told by Officer Chaffee, in a profane manner, to leave the area.
60. The two witnesses complied with the order and were never interviewed or contacted by anyone from the Wichita Police Department in the investigation following the event.

An autopsy was performed. Marquez Smart had suffered five bullet wounds, three of which were back to front, with trajectory indicating that the body was prone when the bullets entered.’