Price Of Justice: Atatiana Jefferson’s Family Files $10 Million Lawsuit Against Killer Cop, Ex-Police Chief, And Mayor

Seems like the only way we can get any semblance of justice when our people are killed is by taking money.

Source: Stewart F. House / Getty

Atatiana Jefferson‘s family has filed a $10 million federal wrongful death lawsuit against Aaron Dean, the cop who shot her, ex-police Chief Ed Kraus, and Mayor Betsy Price according to NBCDFW. The filing alleges that the city failed to properly train its officers and did little to nothing to rectify the problems inside the department that could have prevented Atatiana’s death. It places a significant amount of blame on Krause and Mayor Price say that they, “knew of the failures of the Fort Worth Police Department but failed to take the necessary steps to rectify the failures and adequately protect the constitutional rights of the people of Fort Worth.”

In particular, the suit points to over a dozen incidents of Dean’s misconduct or other protocol failures over a span of 14 years from 2005 to 2019 which demonstrates a “consistent and systematic failure to properly train and supervise its officers on the proper use of force”.

An investigative panel of experts found that “officers are not consistently adhering to policies to avoid force during encounters with community members and these policies are not enforced by the department”. They also point to numerous failures to de-escalate situations to prevent deaths and other harm from happening to innocent people like Atatiana.

For those who didn’t know or perhaps forgot, Aaron Dean resigned from the force and has been charged with murder. His trail is tentatively scheduled to begin in August. Our eyes will be watching all the legal machinations very, VERY closely.

Rest in peace Atatiana Jefferson. We hope your family wins the lawsuit but also that they receive the true justice of a guilty verdict and significant prison time for Aaron Dean.