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This is an action for money damages brought pursuant to 42 USC 1983 and
1988, and the 4th Amendment (through the 14th Amendment) to the United States
Constitution, and under the statutes and common law of the State of Michigan against
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Dertroit Police Officers Joseph Weekly, Robert Rowe and other unknown members of
the Detroit Police Department and the City of Detroit. Jurisdiction is based upon 28 USC
1331 and 1343. The amount in controversy in this case is well in excess of
$75,000.00, the jurisdiction minimum.
PARTIES
2.
Plaintiff, Erica Moore, is the duly appointed Personal Representative of the Estate
of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Deceased. She files this lawsuit in both her individual capacity
and as her representative capacity on behalf of the Estate of Aiyana Stanley-Jones.
3.
deceased.
4.
Department Special Response Team who shot and killed Aiyana Stanley-Jones.
5.
Detroit Police Officer Robert Roe is a member of the Detroit Police Department
Special Response Team who fired or threw the flash-bang grenade through the window
of the lower unit in the duplex.
6.
believed to number 20 individuals and include supervisors and officers who formulated
and participated in the raid on the Lillibridge Street duplex.
7.
municipal corporation located in Wayne County, State of Michigan and among other
services, it provides to its residents a police agency, namely the City of Detroit Police
Department, which acts under the color of Michigan state law.
COMMON FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS
8.
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At approximately 12:40 a.m. on May 16, 2010, the Detroit Police Department
The Detroit Police Special Response Team tossed or fired a flash-bang grenade
Jones, who was asleep on the couch in the downstairs unit prior to the intrusion.
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Police then immediately blindly fired random shots into the lower duplex from the
outside.
12.
One of the shots fired by Detroit Special Response Team struck seven-year-old
Aiyana Stanley-Jones in the neck and went into her brain, fatally injuring her.
13.
Response Team Officer Joseph Weekly rushed into the house and made physical contact
in the front room with Mertilla Jones, Aiyana Stanley-Jones grandmother.
14.
Aiyanas father, Charles Jones, entered the front room of the lower unit in time to
see his mother, Mertilla Jones being detained and to observe his mortally wounded
daughter being carried out of the house before Charles Jones was order to the floor and
kept cuffed there for up to two hours.
15.
Detroit police have confiscated the burned Disney Princess blanket Aiyana
Stanley-Jones was sleeping with as well as the burned couch she was lying on when she
was shot and killed.
16.
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At all times material and relevant neither Joseph Weekly, nor Robert Rowe, nor
any of the Detroit Police Department Special Response Team had any justifiable excuse
or reason to throw or shoot a flash-bang grenade into the lower unit of the duplex or to
discharge their weapons wildly into the unit where the seven-year-old Aiyana StanleyJones was sleeping.
17.
Aiyana Stanley-Jones did not die immediately, and instead suffered great
conscious pain and suffering as a direct and proximate result of the said acts of the
Defendants Weekly and Rowe and The Detroit Police Response Team. Seven-year-old
Aiyana Stanley-Jones suffered the following injuries and damages:
a. Violation of her constitutional rights under the 4th Amendment (through the
14th Amendment) to the United States Constitution including, but not limited
to, the right to be free from an unreasonable seizure of his person and/or to be
free from the unnecessary and excessive use of deadly force;
b. Loss of her life;
c. Physical pain and suffering and emotional trauma and suffering;
d. Medical, funeral and burial costs;
e. Loss of wages and/or earning capacity;
f. Loss of services, care, society, love, companionship, comfort and protection
between Aiyana Stanley-Jones and all family members and/or persons of her
Estate, as recoverable under the Michigan Wrongful Death Act, MCL
600.2922.
18.
Plaintiffs have suffered, and will continue to sustain the loss of society and
companionship of their seven-year old daughter Aiyana Stanley-Jones.
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COUNT I
42 U.S.C. 1983 EXCESSIVE FORCE AND/OR UNLAWFUL USE OF DEADLY
FORCE-DEFENDANTS JOSEPH WEEKLY AND ROBERT ROWE
19.
Plaintiff seeks damages for injuries suffered by Aiyana Stanley-Jones and the
members of her family as set forth and described above pursuant to 42 U.S.C.1983
against Defendants Joseph Weekly.
21.
Pursuant to the 4th Amendment (through the 14th Amendment) to the United
States Constitution, at all times relevant, Aiyana Stanley-Jones had the right to be free
from unlawful seizure, excessive force, and the unlawful use of deadly force.
22.
At all times relevant, as police offers acting under color of law, Defendant Joseph
Weekly, Robert Rowe and other unknown members of the Detroit Police Department
Special Response Team were required to obey the laws of the United States including
those laws identified and described in the 4th Amendment to the United States
Constitution.
23.
To the contrary, in clear violation of the United States Constitution, including but
not limited to the 4th Amendment, Defendants Joseph Weekly and Robert Rowe
unlawfully seized Aiyana Stanley-Jones, used excessive force against her and unlawfully
used deadly force thereby inflicting horrendous personal injuries and ultimately death
from which certain damages naturally followed to the members of Aiyana Stanley-Jones
family and/or Estate.
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24.
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Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983, Defendants are liable for all damages allowed
under federal law and under the Michigan Wrongful Death Statute MCL 600.2922. To
the extent that the damages allowable and/or recoverable under one or both of the statutes
are deemed insufficient to fully compensate the Plaintiffs and/or to punish or deter the
Defendants, this Court must order additional damages to be allowed so as to satisfy any
and all such inadequacies.
25.
Aiyana Stanley-Jones and/or the members of her family have suffered the following
injuries and damages for which compensation is hereby demanded.
a. Reasonable medical, funeral and burial expenses;
b. Severe and permanent brain injury and death;
c. Emotional distress;
d. Loss of personal freedom and liberty;
e. Pain and suffering;
f. Fright and shock;
g. Horror, outrage and indignity;
h. Economic damages including lost wages and/or loss of earning capacity;
i. Exemplary damages;
j. Loss of love, society and companionship for the members of the Decedents Estate;
k. Loss of services, gifts and/or gratuities;
l. An award of punitive damages;
m. An award of hedonic damages;
n. Reasonable attorney fees and costs;
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The Detroit Police Special Response Teams improper and unconstitutional fatal
actions in this situation were caused by the moving force of the Citys unconstitutional
training and policies and procedures which have led to the establishment of a custom of
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allowing the Citys police officers in general and the Detroit Police Department Special
Response Team, in particular, to utilize excessive and unconstitutional force against
members of the public.
28.
Upon Defendants realizing that they had critically injured the seven-year-old girl,
they intentionally conspired to cover-up their unlawful acts by providing false and
fictitious information to the authorities and to the media regarding the shooting of Aiyana
Stanley-Jones, including falsely claiming that the bullet that killed her was fired from
inside the lower unit of the duplex rather than from the outside, and that the discharge of
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the firearm was the result of a physical struggle between Mertilla Jones, Aiyanas
grandmother and the Defendant members of the Detroit Police Special Response Team.
31.
Defendant acted in concert to cover-up the facts and circumstances of the fatal
As soon as Defendants realize that they had entered the wrong unit of the duplex
and had burned, shot and mortally wounded the innocent seven year old Aiyana StanleyJones, they mutually, either tacitly or overtly, agreed to commence a conspiracy to coverup the facts of what they had done.
33.
Respectfully Submitted
/s/ GEOFFREY N. FIEGER
_________________________________
GEOFFREY N. FIEGER (P30441)
Attorneys for Plaintiff
19390 West Ten Mile Road
Southfield, MI 48075
(248) 355-5555
g.fieger@fiegerlaw.com
Dated:
April 1, 2015
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