Suit Alleges Pattern and Practice of Using Overly Aggrgessive Tactics in Black Areas

From [HERE] and [HERE] WEST MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Jury selection began Monday in a $250 million civil lawsuit [READ] filed against two West Memphis police officers involved in the shooting death of 12-year old Deaunta Farrow. The trial is expected to last a week. Last October, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from officers Erik Sammis and Jimmy Evans, who maintained the lawsuit shouldn't go to trial.

The officers were conducting nighttime surveillance when Sammis fatally shot DeAunta Farrow. Police have said the boy was holding a toy gun in a dimly lit parking lot. When “the suspect” didn't drop the "weapon", Sammis said he feared for his life and opened fire. Only then, he says, did he realize that the “gun” was a toy gun and that he had just shot and killed a 12-year-old child.

Farrow's family and the family of a boy with Farrow at the time of the shooting sued the officers, saying they used excessive force and violated their civil rights. Family members and others who were eyewitnesses say DeAunta Farrow was gunned down without cause. 

They say DeAunta and his cousin Unseld Nash, Jr. had walked a few blocks from DeAunta's home to the nearby Steeplechase Apartments where Unseld lived. The two kids made a stop at the gas station/market, picked up a pop and chips and continued down the street. DeAunta's older brother, already at Steeplechase, was keeping an eye on the two boys as they approached. After Unseld and DeAunta turned up the street leading to the apartment, two undercover police officers suddenly appeared from behind a dumpster. And within moments DeAunta was lying on the ground, shot twice by one of the officers. Some witnesses said they heard the cop shout a warning. Some didn't. Some said DeAunta had a toy gun. Others say all DeAunta had was a pop and a bag of chips. Everyone agrees that DeAunta presented no threat. 

He had just graduated from the sixth grade.