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The sister of Atatiana Jefferson, a Black woman fatally shot by a white Fort Worth police officer in 2019, has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit over the 28-year-old’s slaying.
The lawsuit against former Officer Aaron Dean, former police Chief Ed Kraus, Mayor Betsy Price and the city of Fort Worth was filed Wednesday in federal court. It lists Ashley Carr as the plaintiff in her capacity as the proposed administrator for the estate of her slain sister and the administrator of the estate for their mother, Yolanda Carr, who died in early 2020.
It seeks damages of more than $10 million.
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A neighbor had called a nonemergency line early Oct. 12, 2019, to report that the doors were open and lights were on at the house in the 1200 block of East Allen Avenue where Jefferson was staying with her convalescent mother. Jefferson was playing video games with her 8-year-old nephew at the time.
When officers arrived, Jefferson heard a noise outside and grabbed a handgun. She was shot as she pointed the firearm toward a window.
According to an arrest-warrant affidavit, Dean and another responding officer did not announce their presence when they got to the home.
Footage from Dean’s body camera showed him walking around to the back of the house. In a matter of seconds, he turned toward a window, yelled at Jefferson to put her hands up and shot her through the window.
Dean, 36, was arrested two days later on a murder charge and posted bond soon afterward. He resigned before he could be fired, Kraus said.
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Ashley Carr’s lawsuit alleges that Dean used excessive force, leading to Jefferson’s death, and that the department failed to properly screen and monitor him, noting a 2004 assault citation for touching a woman’s breast and concerns in his training records.
The lawsuit says the police department “has displayed a consistent and systematic failure to properly train and supervise its officers on the proper use of force.” It lists more than a dozen instances dating back to 2005 of fatal shootings by Fort Worth officers and other instances where excessive force has been alleged, including the 2016 arrest of Jacqueline Craig.
The lawsuit also notes racial disparities in the arrests made by Fort Worth officers as well as within the ranks of the department.
A similar lawsuit was filed in November by Jefferson’s biological father, aunt and another relative. That lawsuit is still pending, and court records show that Carr has filed a motion to intervene to protect the interests of her mother’s estate.
Dean has been indicted on the murder charge and is awaiting trial.