$50 million lawsuit filed in Detroit police killing of Ki'Azia Miller

A $50 million wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against the city of Detroit and three police officers involved in the killing of Ki'Azia Miller, 27, who was said to have been diagnosed with schizophrenia and experiencing a mental crisis when she was fatally shot during an alleged struggle for a gun.

Attorney Geoffrey Fieger filed the lawsuit on behalf of a representative of Miller's estate and a friend.

The lawsuit alleges officers failed to execute the de-escalation tactics Detroit police are trained in — at least one officer was a member of Detroit Police’s Crisis Intervention Team.

Instead, three officers shot four rounds at Miller, and officers allegedly surrounded the home with assault rifles, according to the lawsuit. Miller’s family previously held a vigil for their loved one, demanding justice.

“It was obvious that the easily agitated 27-year-old Ms. Miller, who was dressed only in her underwear, was in the midst of a mental health crisis,” Fieger wrote in the lawsuit.

The officers ”were in no immediate danger while brutally taking down, assaulting, and fatally shooting four times the underwear-clad, mentally ill, and unarmed Ms. Miller who just assured the officers she did not, and was not going to, harm anyone,” Fieger continued.

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Miller's mother, Lakisha Washington-Meeks, called police on Nov. 10 asking for help for her daughter, who she said was experiencing a mental crisis and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Washington-Meeks told police that Miller had hit her young child and was armed with knives, a bat and a gun.

In video footage recorded by Miller moments before the shooting, she says to an officer seemingly hiding behind a tree in her front yard: "You had a gun pointed on me because you all got a phone call. Are you serious? You all came with guns drawn. ... You all prepared to shoot, right?"

The officer responds that the police on scene don't want to get hurt. Then a second officer aggressively and abruptly enters the home. The video then becomes shaky. The audio becomes muffled, but it sounds like the officer then yells, "Show your goddamned hands," "Don't reach for that goddamned gun," and the video ends.

"It was at this point that (two officers) quickly and without any warning whatsoever, burst out of nowhere to ambush and savagely attack the almost nude, non-threatening and mentally ill Ms. Miller," Fieger wrote in the lawsuit while citing Miller’s Facebook live video.

Detroit Police Chief James White said he had concerns regarding the killing and previously announced recommending the unpaid suspensions of three officers, including supervisor Sgt. Marvin Anthony. Another unidentified supervisor was taken off the streets and assigned desk work.

The Detroit Board of Police Commissioners denied White's recommendation to have Anthony's suspension be without pay.

No officers have been charged in Miller's death.

On Nov. 1, Fieger filed a similar $50 million lawsuit against Detroit and five of its police officers who fatally shot 20-year-old Porter Burks in early October. Burks was also diagnosed with schizophrenia and was experiencing a mental health crisis when he was killed.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: $50 million lawsuit filed in Detroit police killing of Ki'Azia Miller