DC Cops Woke a Black Man Up Asleep in Car by Pointing Guns @ His Face. Then They Shot Him to Death b/c He was Startled. Suit Seeks $15M. No Charges Filed Against Cops b/c 'They're Soft on Crime in DC'

From [HERE] The mother of a young Black man who was fatally shot by police at a McDonald’s drive-thru in Washington, D.C., has filed a federal lawsuit, saying her son had been asleep in his car when two officers startled him awake, then killed him.

Alicia R. Robinson is seeking $15 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages on claims including excessive force, wrongful death, gross negligence, and assault and battery over the Sept. 1 shooting, the lawsuit shows.

Justin Robinson was 25 years old when he died. He had worked for a violence interruption program, which was operated by D.C., according to The Washington Post.

“The irony of the situation here is that Justin was somebody that was hired by the government to keep the peace, and he was murdered by the police who saw a Black man in a vehicle,” attorney Andrew Omar Clarke, who represents Alicia Robinson, told McClatchy News over the phone on Aug. 22.

The lawsuit comes after prosecutors decided not to pursue criminal charges against two Metropolitan Police Department officers involved in the shooting, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced in a Jan. 15 news release.

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“Unfortunately, the only thing that the court can do at this point to rectify this issue is to offer money or policy changes,” Clarke told McClatchy News.

Alicia Robinson is suing D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, MPD Chief Pamela A. Smith and the two officers for Fourth Amendment violations. “Shooting a citizen while he is minimally conscious is shocking and should be penalized with punitive damages,” Clarke wrote in the lawsuit.

At about 5:20 a.m. Sept. 1, police were called to a crash at the McDonald’s, where they found Justin Robinson “unresponsive” in his car with a gun in his lap, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“Mr. Robinson had been sitting inside his car in the drive-thru of the McDonald’s, unresponsive, for around an hour before it moved forward and crashed into the building,” prosecutors said.

According to the lawsuit, eight MPD officers approached him in his car.

“The MPD officers spoke amongst themselves to devise a plan to detain the sleeping Mr. Robinson, search his vehicle for contraband, and gain entry to the vehicle,” the complaint says.

The two officers named as defendants walked over to Justin Robinson’s driver’s side door with their guns drawn and their “fingers on the trigger,” according to the filing, which says they then tried to open the door.

The door was locked, but the driver’s side window was open, the complaint notes.

One of the officers reached into the window and pointed his gun into Robinson’s face, according to the filing, which says the other officer “proceeded to do the exact same thing.”

“Mr. Robinson was startled out of his slumber and lacking full consciousness, reacted by placing his right hand up to his face and his left hand on the driver’s door,” Clarke wrote in the complaint.

The officers then fired at Robinson, according to the complaint.

Federal prosecutors, citing a review of evidence including surveillance footage and body-worn camera footage, said when one of the officers reached into the car, he was trying to grab a gun that had been in Robinson’s lap, leading to a struggle.

Justin Robinson did not let go of his gun, according to prosecutors. He was then accused of grabbing the officer’s gun.

When both officers ordered Justin Robinson to remove his hand from the weapon, prosecutors said he kept struggling with them.

Then the officers fired 11 shots at him, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Clarke told McClatchy News that it was surprising and “disheartening” the officers were not criminally charged.

“Here you have somebody that’s sleeping at the wheel, visibly, you know, trying to come to,” Clarke said, referencing footage of the incident. “The video is very clear.”

“You see the officer is putting his gun inside the car,” Clarke continued. “The reaction that Justin has to this is completely natural to anyone that is ... sleeping or unconscious or not awake.”

He added that Justin Robinson was “definitely not aware of what’s going on.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said there was “insufficient evidence” to hold the officers liable.

With the lawsuit, Alicia Robinson is demanding a jury trial.

“(The officers) deprived Mr. Robinson of his life by using excessive and unreasonable force when they shot him without any justifiable reason to do so,” the complaint says.