In what is sure to be an emotionally-charged motion, the parents of college student Kendrec McDade have filed a wrongful death suit against the Pasadena police department. The same day, they also filed a civil rights violation lawsuit against the city of Pasadena.
The decision came after the death of Kendrec at the hands of police on March 24, around 11 pm.
Kendrec’s parents say that the shooting is the latest in a pattern of unwarranted shootings by the Pasadena police aimed at young black males.
The shooting came as the result of information received from local resident Oscar Carillo, who told the police that two armed men had held him up and stolen his backpack. Officers soon saw Kendrec running, and opened fire. Officers at the time stated that they believed Kendrec had been reaching for a weapon. However, no weapon was found on Kendrec’s body, calling their account into doubt.
Carillo later admitted that the men who allegedly took his backpack from him were not actually armed, despite what he told the police dispatcher who passed the information on to the police. Police tried to bring manslaughter charges against Carillo in connection with the shooting death, but the public prosecutor declined to do so. Carillo is under investigation with an aim toward deportation, but these proceedings have been suspended while the criminal investigation is still ongoing.
Perhaps the most disturbing information about the case is that Kendrec McDade did not die immediately from the gunshots. Instead he was left in the street for some time without medical aid, and according to witnesses attempted to talk to the police as he lay bleeding and dying.
The lawsuits filed by Kendrec’s parents are seeking unspecified amounts of general and personal damages. There is no word yet on any court date, or which judge or judges will hear the respective cases.
