The sister of a woman fatally shot by a police officer through the window of her home in Texas in 2019 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Fort Worth, Mayor Betsy Price, former police chief Ed Kraus, and former police officer Aaron Dean.
CNN previously reported that Atatiana Jefferson’s father and other family members had sued the city and Dean last November. That case has not yet been resolved.
In the new lawsuit, Ashley Carr alleges that Fort Worth “failed to properly train, supervise, screen, discipline, transfer, counsel or otherwise properly equip and control officers including those who are known, or who should have been known, to engage in the use of excessive force and/or deadly force.”
The suit also says Kraus and Price were aware of the “failures of the Fort Worth Police Department” and didn’t “rectify the failures and adequately protect the constitutional rights of the people of Fort Worth.”
Price’s office said in a statement that the mayor was limiting her comments out of respect for the criminal case but said the city was aware of the lawsuit, and noted that Carr was not the executor of Jefferson’s estate.
“The Probate Court has appointed an Attorney Ad Litem to determine heirs and will appoint an executor, who is the appropriate person to file suit, once all heirs have been determined,” the statement added.
Playing video games at the time
Jefferson, 28, was playing video games with her nephew early on October 12, 2019, when Dean and another officer arrived at her home.
A concerned neighbor had called the non-emergency police number after noticing the home’s exterior doors were open at night. As officers walked around the house in the dark, Jefferson heard a noise in the backyard, pulled out a gun from her purse and pointed it at the window, police said.
Dean yelled “Put your hands up! Show me your hands!” before he fired through the window, killing her, body camera footage showed. Neither of the officers identified themselves as police.
Dean resigned from the police department after he was charged with murder in the killing of Jefferson. He was indicted by a grand jury on the murder charge. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dean has pleaded not guilty and has been out of bond since October 2019.
Carr is asking for an excess of $10 million in damages for her sister’s death.
CNN has contacted Dean’s attorney and Kraus for comment but has not heard back.
