Suit alleges civil rights violations by Metro Police - Las Vegas Sun

Suit alleges civil rights violations by Metro Police - Las Vegas Sun

Family members of a man shot and killed in 2007 by a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer have filed a civil rights complaint against the department and the officer.

The parents and sisters of Ronald Neal Joseph Jr. last week sued Metro and Sgt. Sara Bradshaw over the incident in which police said Joseph had just robbed a man at a convenience store and was running, with his gun raised, toward Bradshaw when she shot him.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas by Baton Rouge, La., attorney Alfreda Tillman Bester and Las Vegas attorney Alda Anderson. Joseph's family members live in Louisiana, Bester said.

Metro at the time said that at 1:47 p.m. on June 6, 2007, dispatch received a call about a man with a firearm in the parking lot of the Terrible Herbst at 5485 West Flamingo Ave.

"Officers arrived to an armed robbery in progress of a citizen, who was in the parking lot, seated in his car. Officers confronted the suspect, who turned and started moving towards the officers. The suspect had a firearm in his hand and ignored officers’ commands. One officer fired at the suspect, striking him," Metro said at the time.

Joseph, 24, was armed with a fully loaded .45-caliber firearm at the time of the shooting, Metro said.

A Clark County Coroner's Inquest jury later found the shooting justified, though three of the eight jurors refused to sign the verdict form. Several witnesses agreed Joseph was running with his weapon raised, but one thought he was running from the officer, news accounts at the time said.

A Metro Police spokesman on Monday said the department had not been served with the suit and had no other comment except that the results of the coroner's inquest speak for themselves.

Bester on Monday raised familiar complaints about the Coroner's Inquest system, saying "The (Clark County) coroner's inquests always find the shootings by the police are justifiable."

The suit charged: "Neither Bradshaw nor any other officer of the LVMPD at the site of the shooting of Ronald Neal Joseph Jr. had probable cause to believe that he posed a threat of death or serious physical harm to the officer(s), or to any other person."

The suit claims Bradshaw had been involved in another shooting about three months prior to the shooting of Joseph and because of that wasn't fit for duty the day of the Joseph shooting.

The suit also raises Joseph's race -- he is black -- and Bester said there is a concern about the frequency of black people being shot by Metro.

"We think it is an issue. But the primary issue is the unnecessary use of force," she said. "We hope this sheds light on the frequency of police shootings in Las Vegas."

"Officer Bradshaw was not fit for duty and should not have been allowed to carry a gun; nor should she have been allowed to participate in, or respond to a situation of the nature which resulted in the death of Ronald Neal Joseph, Jr. Further, Bradshaw was not adequately trained nor sensitized to deal with an incident of this kind involving a young African-American male,'' charged the suit, which alleges violations of Joseph's rights to equal protection of the law and due process.