PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A federal jury on Friday rejected a $20 million civil rights lawsuit against the Providence Police Department over the fatal shooting of a black officer by two white colleagues who mistook him for a suspect.
Sgt. Cornel Young Jr., 29, was off duty and in civilian clothes in 2000 when he was killed outside a diner as he ran to respond to a fight.
The shooting sparked charges of racism on the police force and led the department to drop a requirement that officers carry their guns while off duty.
In her lawsuit, Young’s mother claimed the department had not properly trained one of the officers who shot her son to recognize off-duty or plainclothes officers. The officer, Michael Solitro, had been on the force for only eight days.
The jury, which began deliberating Wednesday afternoon after a monthlong trial, decided that the department did not violate Young’s rights.
Solitro and his partner, Carlos Saraiva, were previously cleared of any criminal wrongdoing by a state grand jury and federal prosecutors.
Young’s father, police Maj. Cornel Young, who did not join his ex-wife’s lawsuit but said he supported it, was the highest-ranking black officer in Providence when his son was killed. He testified that the risk of misidentification was particularly great for minority officers.
Young Jr. was eating inside the restaurant when a fight broke out between two women and spilled outside. A friend of one of the women pulled a gun and got into a car, and Young drew his gun and ran outside. Solitro and his partner arrived and opened fire, thinking Young was a suspect.
The two officers testified that Young never identified himself as a police officer, and that he pointed his gun in their direction and ignored repeated commands to drop his weapon.
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