By Brian C. Louwers
C & G Staff Writer

DETROIT — The mother of a Detroit teen who died on April 10 after he was hit with a Taser fired by a Warren police officer has filed a lawsuit against the city in U.S. District Court.

The lawsuit, filed through attorneys Geoffrey Fieger and Paul Broschay with the Southfield-based firm of Fieger, Fieger, Kenney, Johnson & Giroux P.C., seeks a sum in excess of $75,000 stemming from the death of 16-year-old Robert Mitchell.

Mitchell died after Warren police deployed a Taser during what police said was a confrontation inside a vacant house in Detroit. The teen reportedly entered the house during a foot chase that began after a traffic stop on westbound Eight Mile Road, near Schoenherr, on the morning of Good Friday.

“He’s 16. He had committed no crime. He was unarmed, afraid, and met with probably overwhelming force,” Broschay said. “The police officers resorted to the use of the Taser in a way in which it is not intended to be used.”

Police said Mitchell’s 19-year-old cousin, driving his family’s 1996 Dodge Status, was pulled over on Eight Mile after officers observed that the vehicle had expired license plates. Mitchell, a passenger in the vehicle, reportedly fled for an unknown reason during the traffic stop, while his cousin and another passenger, a 37-year-old Detroit woman, stayed in the car.

Police said Mitchell ran south across four lanes of eastbound Eight Mile and into a vacant house on Pelkey, in Detroit, where officers said he emerged from an upstairs room and struggled with them. 

Like members of Mitchell’s family and representatives with the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, who addressed the teen’s death in remarks before members of the Warren City Council on April 14, Broschay questioned why police officers trained in defensive tactics used the Taser to subdue a teen described as small in stature, weighing little more than 110 pounds, according to family members.

“Properly trained police officers don’t have to immediately resort to the use of these very dangerous Tasers to force people to comply with their requests, without taking into account a person’s emotional state, their age, or their health,” Broschay said.

The lawsuit named only the city of Warren as a defendant when it was filed. Mitchell’s mother, Cora Mitchell, was named as the personal representative of Robert Mitchell’s estate.

Included in the complaint was the allegation that the actions of Warren police officers violated Mitchell’s rights to protection from excessive force under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The complaint cited, “policies, practices and customs that were a direct and proximate cause of the unconstitutional violations,” that were the result of “deliberate indifference.”

Specifically, the complaint alleged that the Warren Police Department, through its senior administrators, commanders and policymakers, failed to “properly screen, supervise, discipline, transfer, counsel or otherwise control police officers,” who, “are known or should have been known to engage in improper use of excessive force and deadly force.”

The complaint also alleged a policy of, “Employing a police code of silence wherein other officers and supervisors cover up the use of deadly force by fabricating accounts in official police reports and internal affairs investigations to the media all of which are designed to falsely exonerate officers from potential civil liability.”

The existence of procedures that allow for such force to be used in “unwarranted” and “unjustified” circumstances, and a failure to train officers about the proper use of electronic stun devices and the dangers of using them, were also alleged.

Deputy Warren Police Commissioner Jere Green declined to comment further on the specifics of the case, other than to confirm that two investigations — an administrative probe focused on documents, interviews and other evidence linked to the incident, and an internal affairs investigation centered on matters of departmental policy — remained ongoing.

The results of the administrative investigation would be forwarded to the office of Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith at its conclusion for an independent review, Green said.

Green declined to discuss the specifics of the department’s training with respect to Tasers, which were first introduced as standard equipment for Warren officers in 2006. Green did say that all officers received departmental training on their use.

Warren City Attorney David Richards said the matter would be referred to the city’s insurance company for defense, once the city is served with the complaint.

“We can all agree it’s a tragic situation. As of this point we have not received a copy of the summons and complaint,” Richards said. “Any further comment I would leave to them (the insurance company), if they choose to make any when the time comes.”

 You can reach Staff Writer Brian C. Louwers at brianlouwers@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1089.