The family of an unarmed Colorado man who was shot dead by police while picking up his brother from school have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging improper use of force.
Richard Ward, 32, was shot three times in the chest in a crowded parking lot outside Liberty Point International Middle School on 23 February 2022 during a scuffle with Pueblo County sheriff’s deputy Charles McWhorter, according to NBC News.
Deputies had been responding to reports that Ward was opening car doors in the pickup waiting area of the school.
Bodycam footage released by the family’s attorneys shows Ward seated in the back seat of his mother’s white SUV explaining to the deputies that he had mistakenly tried to get into another vehicle.
Ward appears upset that law enforcement had been called and says he was just “looking for my little brother” in the bodycam footage.
“Why are you acting like this?” Mr McWhorter asks.
“I’m a little nervous because I don’t like cops,” he replies.
When Mr McWhorter tries to force him out of the car, Ward resists and the pair end wrestling on the ground.
Ward is shot three times at point blank range while his mother watched on in horror, according to the lawsuit.
Bodycam footage shows that neither Mr McWhorter nor another deputy Cassandra Gonzales offer first aid.
The Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office has previously said that Ward was shot after trying to disarm the deputy, according to KKTV.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Ward’s mother Kristy Ward Stamp said his death had “shattered” the family.
She said her son lay on the ground for three minutes without first aid before paramedics arrived, according to CBS News.
His family filed the wrongful death lawsuit in the US District Court in Colorado alleging the deputies had inflicted “grossly excessive force”.
“The killing of an unarmed man, in broad daylight right in front of his mother, is yet another senseless killing by aggressive law enforcement officers poorly trained to handle even the most routine police tasks without resorting to dangerous and even deadly weapons,” the family’s attorney Darold Killmer said in a statement.
