Kenneth Walker's Family re-Files $100 Million Suit Against Police for Wrongful Death
Tuesday, December 14, 2004 at 04:14PM
TheSpook
Unprovoked, Unarmed, Innocent Black Man Murdered by Police
The family of a man shot to death by a Muscogee County sheriff's deputy
a year ago has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the county, the
sheriff and the deputy. The lawsuit was filed in Superior Court this
week as the one-year anniversary of 39-year-old Kenneth Walker's death
was marked. Meanwhile, more than 300 people gathered Friday to remember
Walker in a service at St. Mary's Road United Methodist Church the
same church where Walker's funeral was held a year ago. Walker, a black insurance analyst, was shot
to death Dec. 10, 2003, during a traffic stop connected to a drug
investigation. No drugs or guns were found in the vehicle. The lawsuit
alleges the shooting was unprovoked and that Walker was cooperating
with deputies at the time. An earlier lawsuit in federal court that did
not name the county was later withdrawn. The new lawsuit names as
defendants Sheriff Ralph Johnson and Deputy David Glisson. Glisson
pulled Walker from an S-U-V and then shot him twice. Glisson told
investigators Walker was not listening to his commands to get out of
the vehicle. Johnson is accused in the suit of not properly training
Glisson on when to use excessive force. Glisson, a 20-year-veteran, was
fired from his job earlier this year. The department said it could not
comment on the lawsuit but has said Glisson was not following
department protocol. A grand jury last month decided not to charge him
criminally in the killing. Rev. Daryl Stover urged people at the
memorial service to continue pushing federal and state officials to
take action in the case. "How good is your voice if you sit and be
silent?" Stover said. "Things won't change until you get to movin'." [more] and
"If Kenneth Walker can be killed without cause, then no African-American male is safe on the streets," [more]
