The mother of a Jonesboro chess champ who was shot and killed at the East Point MARTA station is blaming the transit agency for her 19-year-old son's death a year ago.
According to a lawsuit filed by Michelle Leighann Nichols, MARTA knew the station was unsafe and that there was often criminal activity on the property but it did not beef up security or warn her son of the dangers there. Nichols wants to be reimbursed for the cost of Anthony Beavers’ funeral and paid for the pain and suffering she has experienced because of his death.
A MARTA spokesperson told the AJC Wednesday night they could not comment because they have not yet been served with the lawsuit.
Broderic Smith, 21, is being held in the Fulton County Jail on charges that he murdered Beavers on the southbound platform at the East Point station on March 10, 2010.
Beavers was headed home to Jonesboro around 10:40 p.m. from visiting his girlfriend for a short while after his class at Westwood College where he was studying criminal justice. Smith allegedly tried to take Beavers’ new touch-screen cell phone and Beavers didn’t want to give it up.
Beavers, a chess champion, was shot three times, the third time in the head.
Beavers “endured conscious pain and suffering and died at the scene,” according to the suit filed in Fulton Superior Court Tuesday.
MARTA “breached the duty owed to Anthony Blaine Beavers by failing to exercise ordinary care to keep its premises safe,” the lawsuit said. “Prior to and on March 10, 2010, the East Point MARTA station was negligently maintained, inspected, secured, patrolled and managed…. Defendant had actual and constructive knowledge prior to the shooting.”
The lawsuit says MARTA “negligently permitted” criminal activity at the station.
At the time of the shooting, Smith was already serving probation for crimes committed in 2006 and 2008, including two charges of theft by receiving a stolen car, criminal damage to property and obstruction.
He was arrested at his mother’s house the day after the shooting. Smith is charged with murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony for Beaver’s death.
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