Lawsuit claims Aurora woman shot by police had been tricked into helping law enforcement
The family of a Missouri woman who was shot and killed by Aurora-Marionville police in 2018, has filed a federal lawsuit against the municipalities and the police officers involved.
In May of 2018, Savannah Hill, 21, was shot and killed by an Aurora-Marionville police officer in what was supposed to be a controlled traffic stop to apprehend a suspected drug dealer in the area. Hill was assisting the police in the apprehension of the suspect, according to court documents.
The lawsuit says police have denied that Hill was a confidential informant.
The lawsuit, which alleges Hill's civil rights were violated, states that Hill was only in the car that day because Aurora police officers falsely represented to Hill that she would be charged with multiple felonies and even felony murder if she did not agree to work with the department to bring down the suspected drug dealer.
According to the lawsuit, a month prior to the shooting Hill had driven an overdosing man to a hospital in Aurora to get medical treatment. Her car was allegedly unlawfully searched by Aurora police officers and they found drug paraphernalia. According to the lawsuit, Hill should have been protected from being prosecuted for having those items due to Missouri's "Good Samaritan Law", which states that a person who assists an overdosing person get medical assistance cannot be prosecuted on minor drug charges.
However, the lawsuit says Hill was arrested and told she would be prosecuted unless she assisted police in apprehending a "dangerous drug dealer."
A month later, court documents say Hill was driving around with the suspect — Mason Farris — and made arrangements for police to pull over her vehicle and arrest Farris.
However, when officers tried to pull over Hill's vehicle, Farris attempted to take control of the vehicle and pushed down on Hill's leg, causing the vehicle and accelerate and hit one of the officers. An officer then fired into the car and shot Hill in the head.
Hill died a couple of days later. Following her death, the officers involved were investigated but eventually cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.
Farris was originally charged with felony murder for Hill's death but he pleaded guilty to lesser charges and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The lawsuit names the city of Aurora, the city of Marionville and police officers Derek Henson, Derek Zentner, Christopher Kozisek and David Chatman as defendants.
Chatman was the one who fired the shot that killed Hill, according to court documents.
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The lawsuit states that the defendants violated Hill's fourth, fifth and fourteenth amendment rights by violating her rights to "due process" and failing to respect her rights to unlawful searches and unlawful detention, by "tricking" her into becoming a confidential informant and then failing to protect her when she acted in that capacity.
The lawsuit also alleges that Kozisek and Chatman, the two officers present when Hill was shot, used excessive force, stating that "the seizure of Savannah by shooting her in the head was objectively unreasonable under the facts and circumstances confronting the Defendants at the time they shot her."
The lawsuit is seeking damages, and the family is requesting a jury trial.
Hill's family first filed a similar lawsuit at the state level last year, but that lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice in February of this year, according to online court records.
No representatives of the either city of Aurora, the city of Marionville or the Aurora-Marionville Police Department could be reached for comment. Hill's family's lawyer also could not be reached for comment.
Jordan Meier covers public safety for the Springfield News-Leader. Contact her at jmeier@news-leader.com, or on Twitter @Jordan_Meier644.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Family sues in federal court after Aurora woman killed by police
