#MauricaManyan Family Of Black Special Officer Killed During Training Session To File Lawsuit Against District

Lawsuit

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On August 4, 2022, 25-year-old Special Police Officer Maurica Manyan was shot and killed during a training session conducted by former Washington D.C. Police Officer Jesse Porter at the Anacostia Library in D.C.

According to video footage of the tragic incident, Manyan wasn’t shot because she accidentally stepped in front of a shooting target or because someone dropped their firearm and it went off.

Instead, she was shot because the training officer pulled his gun as a “joke” after they had taken a photo together.

Now, Mayan’s family is set to file a lawsuit against the District, because when a cop tasked with training cops kills someone while allegedly treating his gun like a toy, somebody needs to be held accountable and pay, if not the shooter himself.

“Watching Officer Maurica fight for her life on the floor of the Anacostia Neighborhood Library with her killer towering over her in her final moments was nothing short of heartbreaking,” an attorney for the family, Chelsea Lewis, told ABC 7 News.  “The District of Columbia bears a heavy responsibility for allowing such a tragedy to occur in a public library against one of their own public servants.

“We are calling for an investigation into the multiple suspected policy violations we observed on the surveillance footage which included allowing Porter to enter the library with a loaded gun and permitting him to remain, just feet from where Officer Manyan was gunned down – uncuffed and armed with the weapon that killed her, surrounded by his former MPD colleagues.

Our community deserves better protection and oversight from its governing bodies. The Manyan Family is committed to making sure the public is granted access to the surveillance footage because the events that led to the death of Officer Manyan are a matter of grave public concern.”

According to NBC 4, Porter, 58, said the shooting was an accident and that he had mistaken his loaded firearm for his orange training gun. He pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to three years in prison. Manyan’s family believes the sentence was too lenient as it is less than what prosecutors typically ask for in such cases.

It’s wild how trained police officers keep mixing up real guns and things that don’t look like real guns before killing Black people.

Apparently, Black cops are not immune even when the victim is also a Black cop.

It’s a sad situation and hopefully, everyone is held accountable who needs to be.