PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- A federal judge has ruled two white officers who shot and killed a black policeman three years ago cannot be sued for negligence, but she refused to dismiss them from a civil lawsuit.
Lawyers for Michael Solitro and Carlos Saraiva asked U.S. District Court Judge Mary Lisi for summary judgment in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against them over the shooting of Sgt. Cornel Young, Jr.
Young was shot by the pair in June 2000, when he tried to break up a fight outside a diner. He was off-duty and in plain clothes at the time.
Lisi denied the officers’ motion for summary judgment on issue of whether they used excessive force, violating Young’s rights. The judge wrote in the order filed Tuesday that the facts are in dispute about what happened before Young was shot.
The order means that portion of the suit can go forward.
The officers had argued their actions were reasonable and therefore they did not violate Young’s rights. They also said they were shielded from liability under the doctrine of qualified immunity. The doctrine offers protection to government officials for actions taken in their official capacity.
Lisi did grant the officers’ motion for summary judgment on the negligence claim. She wrote the state’s injured on duty law precludes such claims.
Nick Brustin, who represents the Cornel Young’s mother, Leisa Young, did not immediately return a message seeking comment Wednesday.
A call to the city solicitor’s office Wednesday afternoon went unanswered.
Leisa Young has sued the officers, two former police chiefs and other supervisors, the police department and the city over her son’s death.
Solitro and Saraiva were cleared by a state grand jury of any criminal wrongdoing. They also were cleared of federal civil-rights violations by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.