The family of an Atlanta man shot 76 times by police has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the officers involved.
Jamarion Robinson, 26, was killed in August 2016 at his girlfriend’s home in Parkside Camp Creek Luxury Apartments on Candlewood Drive in East Point. He was shot by members of a police task force that included officers from multiple jurisdictions, including the U.S. Marshal Service, who were serving a warrant for his arrest.
Members of local civil rights organizations said at a press conference Wednesday they don’t know why police were looking for Robinson. Law enforcement authorities have said they obtained a warrant for Robinson’s arrest after he fired a gun at police during a previous confrontation.
“At the time of the shooting, Jamarion Robinson presented no threat to the defendant officers or anyone else,” according to the lawsuit, filed in federal court.
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The complaint states that Robinson had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and that the officers involved in the shooting were not trained to execute arrest warrants for people with psychiatric conditions.
The lawsuit claims the officers "conspired among and between themselves to unreasonably stop, seize, shoot and injure Jamarion Robinson in violation of his Constitutional rights, to destroy and fabricate evidence, to complete false, inaccurate and misleading reports, and to make false statements to superior officers in order to conceal their wrongdoing."
The complaint accuses officers of knocking at the apartment door, but then immediately breaking the door down and “spraying” the interior with 9 mm and .40 mm submachine guns and .40 mm Glock pistols.
It also accuses the U.S. Marshals involved with the task force of tampering with evidence by handcuffing Robinson at the apartment, after he was dead from his gunshot wounds, and throwing a flash grenade into the apartment.
The lawsuit was filed against eight named law enforcement officers from a number of different law enforcement agencies, as well as 11 unidentified officers. It alleges that the officers used excessive force, manipulated evidence falsified reports.
The lawsuit seeks "substantial actual or compensatory damages" for violations of state law and Robinson's constitutional rights, as well as punitive damages and attorney fees.
Officers named in the suit are from the Atlanta Police, East Point Police, Fulton County Police, Clayton County Fire and Police departments, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshals Service.
The Atlanta Police Department said it can not comment on pending litigation and the Clayton County Police department referred questions to the U.S. Marshals office, which did not offer a comment.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation investigated the shooting initially before turning it over to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. The District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to attempts to reach them about the status of the investigation.
Andrew M. Stroth of Action Injury Law Group, a Chicago-based firm specializing in cases of police brutality and excessive force, will represent Robinson’s family in court. Organizations present at the presser were the New Order National Human Rights Organization, the Cobb Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the 1000 Men March.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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