WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The family of a man shot dead by Indianapolis police in January have decided to sue the city, the Chicago-based law firm Loevy & Loevy Attorneys at Law said in a release.
"The family of the late Donte Sowell, a father of four shot dead from behind by a hail of police bullets January 15th, sued the City of Indianapolis, a security guard firm and the property management firm that employed them in federal court today," Loevy & Loevy stated on Thursday.
Loevy & Loevy Attorney Matt Topic said the Indianapolis authorities have yet to produce any video recordings of the shootings or even say whether they exist, which violates the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
"The suggestion that the families of police shooting victims, the press and the public should simply accept government accounts of what happened without seeing actual video evidence is offensive to a free society and violates the law," Topic said.
Sowell family attorney Ruth Brown said witnesses saw Donte Sowell unarmed and surrendering to police. She added that the police did not recover any weapons, and only after Sowell died, officers claimed a gunfight had ensued.
Loevy & Loevy is the largest civil rights law firm in the midwest of the United States, with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boulder, Colorado.
