Earlier this year on April 24, Demonjhea Jordan fled the scene of a robbery and allegedly pointed his handgun at police officers in a Portland neighborhood. In response, one of those Louisville Metro Police officers “fired his gun through the window of his squad car,” killing Jordan, who was 21-years-old at the time. As a result of the fatal shooting, Jordan’s mother and father filed a wrongful death lawsuit earlier this month in Jefferson County Court, though it was moved to federal court yesterday.
Earlier this year on April 24, Demonjhea Jordan fled the scene of a robbery and allegedly pointed his handgun at police officers in a Portland neighborhood. In response, one of those Louisville Metro Police officers “fired his gun through the window of his squad car,” killing Jordan, who was 21-years-old at the time. As a result of the fatal shooting, Jordan’s mother and father filed a wrongful death lawsuit earlier this month in Jefferson County Court, though it was moved to federal court yesterday.
The suit argues that “three officers and a detective used excessive force against” Jordan when they allegedly shot at him more than 20 times. According to the lawsuit, the “four men involved in the shooting — Officers Joshua Weyer, Benjamin Dean, and Kody Despain, and Detective Joseph Fox — breached the duty of care by utilizing unauthorized and unnecessary deadly force against Jordan.”
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Footage from the officer’s body cameras released shortly after the shooting show all four officers fired their weapons at Jordan. In the video, Jordan can be seen “holding an object covered by what looked like a red cloth…when the cloth fell to the ground, Jordan was still holding the object that police said was a handgun.”
Shortly after the shooting, police Chief Steve Conrad spoke out in defense of his officers and said they were “able to use force, in this case, deadly force, to protect themselves and others from death or serious physical injury.”
Around the same time, Lt. Aaron Cromwell, who works for the department’s public integrity unit, said “police believed Jordan also fired his weapon,” and cited “multiple sources of information that led them to that conclusion.” However, he has since declined to “specify what the sources were, how many shots were fired or who fired first.” Additionally, it’s also not clear in the footage from the body cameras “when the suspect actually fired his weapon.”
As a result of the incident, Officers Weyer, Despain, Fox, and Dean, were placed on administrative reassignment and are not currently on patrol assignments. The investigation into the matter is still ongoing, and Joshua Abner, a spokesman for the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office, has not commented as to why the case was moved to federal court yesterday.
The suit is currently seeking unspecified damages, and a spokesperson for the Louisville Metro Police Department has declined to comment on the pending litigation. It should be noted, the suit only currently represents one side of the matter.
Sources:
Louisville police sued over robbery suspect’s shooting death
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