The sister of Atatiana Jefferson has filed a wrongful death lawsuit, naming the City of Fort Worth, Mayor Betsy Price, former Fort Worth Police Chief Ed Kraus and former police officer Aaron Dean as defendants.
Dean shot and killed Jefferson at her home October 12, 2019.
Officer Dean was responding to a neighbor's call to the non-emergency line about a door open at Jefferson's house. Body camera footage showed Dean and another officer walk into the backyard of the house on Allen Avenue. Jefferson's nephew said she was hearing noises outside and took her gun out of her purse when she went to investigate.
When Dean saw Jefferson through a window, he shot and killed her.
Dean resigned and has since been charged with murder. He is awaiting trial.
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Jefferson's sister, Ashely Carr, has now filed a lawsuit, saying the Fort Worth Police Department has shown a "consistent and systemic failure to property train and supervise its officers on the proper use of force, and techniques and principles of de-escalation, resulting in numerous incidents of officers unnecessarily using force resulting in serious bodily injury and death, particularly against people of color."
The lawsuit says, by tolerating the use of force, Kraus and Price "indicated to Fort Worth officers that they were free to use force however they liked without the threat of discipline or accountability."
"Policymaker Kraus or Price knew of the failures of the Fort Worth Police Department as discussed herein but failed to take the necessary steps to rectify the failures and adequately protect the constitutional rights of the people of Fort Worth," the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit says the Fort Worth Police Department also "actively attempted to downplay and cover up the use of excessive force and the commission of crimes by its officers."
Fort Worth Police, the city, Kraus and Price have not yet responded to the lawsuit.
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