Lawsuit against local officer may be tossed out
Federal magistrate recommends civil action in shooting death of schizophrenic man be dismissed
A federal judge is recommending dismissal of claims in a civil suit against a Texarkana, Texas, police officer who fatally shot a schizophrenic man holding a spoon in a neighbor’s dark garage.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven issued a report Monday which finds Brent Lawing is protected by qualified immunity and cannot be held liable in the Dec. 15, 2014, death of 35-year-old Dennis Grigsby Jr. Lawing shot Grigsby once in the chest in a garage directly across the street from the house on Page Street in Texarkana, Texas, where Grigsby lived with his mother and stepfather.
“There is no evidence establishing that Lawing’s use of deadly force was clearly excessive or objectively unreasonable,” Craven wrote.
Lawing was the first officer to respond to a panicked 911 call shortly before 2 a.m. from one of two adults who lived in the house with seven children. The homeowners reported that a barefooted man wearing pajamas was in the garage, which was secured with tarps instead of typical garage doors, and tapping on a window into the home with a tool.
Lawing said he shot because Grigsby was coming toward him in the darkened space with what appeared to be a knife in his hand. The shiny metal object turned out to be the stem of a spoon. Grigsby’s parents filed a wrongful death suit in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas accusing Lawing of using excessive force in violation of Grigsby’s constitutional rights after a Bowie County grand jury declined to indict Lawing for any criminal wrongdoing.
Grigsby’s family’s lawyer, Derrell Coleman of the Shaw Law Group in Gun Barrel City, Texas, argued that Lawing should have parked his patrol car in the driveway and illuminated the garage, that Lawing should have identified himself as a police officer and that Lawing should have waited for backup. Coleman alleged that moaning from Grigsby recorded by Lawing’s body microphone coupled with knowledge of how Grigsby was dressed, should have alerted the officer that Grigsby was not a serious threat.
At a hearing earlier this month to address a motion to essentially dismiss the case filed by Texarkana lawyers Bob Weber and David Glass of the Smith Weber firm, Weber argued that Lawing’s decision to shoot was justified because he perceived an imminent threat at that moment. The body mic recording captured the sounds of Grigsby’s moans seconds before Lawing’s flashlight beam caused Grigsby to say, “You better shut that light out of my face.”
Lawing testified in a deposition that Grigsby moved toward him with a raised arm, an object that appeared to be a knife in his hand, and did not stop approaching when Lawing said, “Hey, set it down. Set it down, man. Set it down.”
“Plaintiffs’ arguments surround the decisions made by Lawing leading up to the confrontation,” Craven wrote. “While those arguments may support a negligence claim in some respect, this does not rise to the level of a constitutional deprivation.”
Craven referred to case law which takes into account that police officers must make “split-second” decisions in “tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving circumstances.”
Craven is recommending that the claims against Lawing be dismissed. Coleman can object to Craven’s report in writing within 14 days. U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III can either adopt Craven’s recommendations and dismiss Lawing from the suit or he can issue an opinion of his own if his analysis of the case differs.
If Schroeder adopts Craven’s recommendations, it is likely the claims remaining against the City of Texarkana, Texas, and Texarkana, Texas, Police Department will be dismissed as well as those claims hinge on a finding that Lawing’s conduct was unjustified.
llarowe@texarkanagazette.com