- Police Brutality Watch

Mother says son holding cell phone, not gun, when KPD officer shot him

Testimony wrapped up Monday in the trial for a family's civil lawsuit against the city of Knoxville over a police shooting. The family of Sean Gillispie filed the suit. Gillispie, 19, was shot by Officer Jason Keck during an incident at a Weigel's in May 2003. Gillispie was in the back seat of a car parked at the store. He died at UT Medical Center. Monday morning, a law enforcement expert testified as well as the two officers who were involved in the shooting. Officer Keck testified that he shot Gillispie because he felt he was in imminent danger. Keck said he saw Gillispie fumbling with what he thought was a gun. The city's attorneys brought in a captain from the Chattanooga Police Department who said he's an expert in the use of force by police. He testified that he reviewed the case and felt Keck's actions were justified. The family says that although there was a gun in the back seat next to Gillispie, he was reaching for his cell phone. They say he never would have harmed anyone. Family members and their friends have packed the court room and say they've waited nearly two years for time in court. "We're very numb," says Gillispie's aunt, Desiree Wallace. "We're hurting all over...to hear Keck say the words that he meant to shoot him, I think it just brought up a lot of old memories that have been instilled within us. We're just trying to get through it." His grandmother, Janet Gillespie, says, "What makes the police force above the citizens? You understand what I'm trying to say? Sean was 19-years-old. He had everything to look forward to. He's gone." The family's attorney told the judge he believed Gillispie also was negligent but the officers' negligence outweighed that. The DA's office cleared Keck of any wrongdoing in September 2003.[more] and [more]