DETROIT (WWJ) – A Detroit family is suing the Detroit Police Department after they say a member of the family, who was unarmed at the time, was shot and killed in the back by plainclothes officers a year ago.
Family and community members gathered on Monday on the city’s east side near the corner of Trombly and E. Grand Boulevard, where 19-year-old Michael Adams was shot and killed on Aug. 8, 2021.
Marking the one-year anniversary of his death, family members are calling for justice. Attorney David Robinson has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the victim’s mother, Crystal Curtis. The lawsuit names the city of Detroit, Police Chief James White, and officers JeJuan Jetter and Eugene Fielder.
The lawsuit is seeking $20 million, claiming the family suffered economic damages, pain and suffering, emotional distress and other damages.
During a gathering near the scene of Adams' death, friends and family sported "Justice for Mike" t-shirts, signs and pictures of him.
"I want them prosecuted for my son's murder," Curtis said Monday. "If they were a regular person, they would be prosecuted. It wouldn't be a second guess, it wouldn't be a question, it wouldn't be hesitation."
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The lawsuit claims Adams was a passenger in someone else’s car when the driver lost control and unintentionally struck the driver’s side of the parked, undercover and unmarked police car that Jetter and Fielder were sitting in.
After the crash, the lawsuit claims Adams got out of the car and ran into a crowd of people who were spectating.
Authorities said in the days after the shooting, it stemmed from a drag racing incident. The lawsuit does not mention drag racing.
The lawsuit says Adams was never armed during the incident. Jetter and Fielder allegedly both got out of their unmarked car, and without announcing their office, shot at Adams as he ran away. He was hit four times in the back and once in the forearm, according to the lawsuit.
“At no time were any shots fired at the officers. At no time was (Adams) ever a threat to either defendant officer,” the lawsuit says. It goes on to day the gun officers claimed to find at the scene was “nowhere near” Adams’ dead body.
“Contrary to the public statement made by Defendant White, (Adams) at no time pointed a gun at the officer, refused any order by the officer or was a threat to the officer, or his partner, as is implied by the Chief,” the lawsuit says.
During Monday's gathering, Robinson said they were "demanding" the police chief, the mayor and the officers involved to "come clean."