Family of Black woman fatally shot while playing video games with nephew sues Fort Worth, ex-cop

Members of Atatiana Jefferson's family are suing the city of Fort Worth, Texas and the former police charged with murdering the 28-year-old Black woman who was shot in her home last year while playing video games with her nephew.

Jefferson's father, Jerome Eschor, her aunt Venitta Body and another relative Arita Eschor are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit which was filed in federal district court last week.

Jefferson had been babysitting her 8-year-old nephew at her mother’s home on Oct. 12, 2019 when a neighbor called a non-emergency police line to report that a door was ajar.

Police have said that then-Officer Aaron Dean, who is white, opened fire from outside through a window after “perceiving a threat," although there was no sign he or the other responding officer knocked on the front door or announced their presence in the backyard.

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Although a firearm was found in Jefferson's home after the incident, police and city leaders said that was not relevant to her death. The fatal shooting drew national attention and hundreds attended her funeral last year.

Dean, 36, resigned from the force after he was charged with murder. Judge David Hagerman last month tentatively scheduled Dean's trial for August.

The lawsuit accuses Dean of violating Jefferson's constitutionally protected civil rights as well as assault and battery. It also claims that the city and the Fort Worth Police Department are liable because they knew or should have known that Dean "exhibited a pattern of escalating encounters with the public."

The lawsuit also alleges that the police department failed to properly train and supervise its officers or discipline Dean.

Fort Worth police chief: 'No excuse' for Aaron Dean to shoot Atatiana Jefferson in her home

Dean was criticized in a performance review in 2018 for missing calls for help over the radio and sometimes having "tunnel vision." His supervisor wrote that the officer had poor communication skills and that when he forgot to do something, “rather than owning up to it, his responses are evasive and deflecting,” according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which obtained the records.

Contributing: Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

Follow N'dea Yancey-Bragg on Twitter: @NdeaYanceyBragg

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Atatiana Jefferson family sues Fort Worth, ex-cop over 2019 shooting