A federal civil rights lawsuit, filed by the estate of Mr. Brandon Tate-Brown against the City of Philadelphia, will proceed.
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On Monday, the City of Philadelphia learned that they were unsuccessful in getting dismissed the federal lawsuit currently pending in the courts over the December 2014 officer-involved shooting death of Mr. Brandon Tate-Brown, whose mother, Mrs. Tanya Brown-Dickerson, joined Mrs. Hillary Clinton on a policing panel event last week and called on the Philadelphia District Attorney to re-open the criminal investigation related to the incident.
Mrs. Brown-Dickerson’s attorney, Mr. Brian Mildenberg, today echoed his client’s wishes: “We still call on Mr. Seth Williams, respectfully, to re-open the case.”
The case that will proceed in federal court is a civil one – seeking monetary damages on behalf of the estate of Mr. Tate-Brown for wrongful death (against the two officers on the scene not the City), assault, battery and wrongful arrest – whereas, the criminal case – which was closed by Mr. Williams prior to the former Police Commissioner revealing that the narrative marketed to the public about the shooting was wholly inaccurate – is about seeking justice.
Mrs. Brown-Dickerson, aware that the City may seek to settle – as did the City of Cleveland today with the family of 12 year-old Mr. Tamir Rice for $6 million – would prefer her day in court in order to watch officials, in particular the shooting officer, be subject to hard questions from Mr. Mildenberg, who this afternoon in an exclusive interview with Techbook Online said the favorable opinion by U.S District Court Judge Stewart Dalzell is a huge achievement for Mrs. Brown-Dickerson, who “moved mountains to get here.”
“Keep your money,” said Mrs. Brown-Dickerson of the City, “put those officers on trial.”
The two officers Mrs. Brown-Dickerson speaks of are Mr. Nicholas Carrelli, the man who pulled the trigger while Mr. Tate-Brown was unarmed and fleeing, and Mr. Heng Deng, who, according to numerous sources, had a nervous breakdown of sorts after the incident and was hospitalized.
Mrs. Brown-Dickerson – who alleges Mr. Carrelli and Mr. Deng stopped her son without reasonable suspicion or probable cause and who plans to attend an April 29th stop-and-frisk town hall to speak out against the policing practice – asserts the aforementioned men violated her son’s civil rights and that claim, per the judge’s opinion, will proceed. Dismissed, however, were the racial discrimination claim – the standard was too high to meet, Mr. Mildenberg said – and “all class action aspects of the case.”
“I’m happy he didn’t dismiss the federal civil rights claim,” Mr. Mildenburg, who sounded both grateful and relieved today when reached by phone, said of the judge.
The trial is set to begin sometime next month.
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Photo: Copyright C. Norris – 2016