Aiexpress – The family of a man who was shot by a Kansas City Police Department officer at a gas station on the East Side in 2021 has brought forth a wrongful death lawsuit.
On February 12, a lawsuit was filed in Jackson County Circuit Court.
On March 25, 2021, Malcolm Johnson, a 31-year-old Black man, lost his life in a tragic shooting incident. The community leaders, who have long been vocal about their apprehensions regarding the Kansas City Police Department’s use of force, especially towards individuals from marginalized communities, expressed their strong disapproval of the incident.
Local leaders in Johnson’s case also highlighted inconsistencies between the initial account of events provided by the police department and videos obtained from the scene a few days after the shooting. Experts who analyzed one of the videos observed that the two officers who initially confronted Johnson at the gas station did not afford him an opportunity to surrender, thereby jeopardizing the safety of bystanders.
Johnson was under surveillance as a possible shooter. Officers Jeremy Gragg and Edward Morales confronted him with firearms drawn inside the BP gas station at 6245 Prospect Avenue.
Johnson attempted to flee, and a scuffle erupted. The argument spread into an aisle of the convenience store, prompting more officers to intervene.
“At one point, we all kind of had him, and it seemed like we were fighting against each other and him at the same time,” Morales told Missouri State Highway Patrol investigators.
Then Johnson looked to reach, and Gragg yelled for someone to shoot him.
“As I moved up and away from him, his handgun discharged and struck me in the right leg,” Gragg told highway patrol investigators.
“Being in fear for my life, of already being shot, and in fear for all their (officers’) lives with him still in control of his handgun, I drew my handgun,” he said. “I was able to get an angle into the top of his head that was facing away from my guys, and I discharged my handgun twice, and he was hit.”
“He went motionless on the ground.”
After Jackson County prosecutors identified a conflict of interest in handling the case, the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office took over the charging choices. In March 2023, officials stated that no charges would be brought against the officer who killed Johnson.
The defendants in the complaint are Gragg and Morales, five additional cops, and an unknown officer.
According to the lawsuit, the cops did not try to employ less lethal choices and acted with an “evil motive or reckless indifference to and conscious disregard for the life and rights of Johnson.”
The Kansas City Police Department declined to comment on the lawsuit “to ensure fairness for all sides involved,” said Sgt. Phil DiMartino, a department spokeswoman.
