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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Mother Sues Police Who Killed her Son

FAIRFIELD, Calif. (CN) - Police shot a man 15 times in the back, killing him, though he posed no threat, his mother claims in court.

Janice Weeden sued the City of Fairfield and police Officers Chris Grimm and Eric Pulsipher in Solano County Court, for the wrongful death of her son, Leigh Weeden.

She claims that the defendant officers, and Doe officers, "detained and seized" her son in Fairfield on July 19, 2013.

She claims that her son did not "present a risk of severe bodily harm," but the officers "shot Leigh Weeden in the back fifteen or more times," killing him.

Five days after the shooting, The (Vallejo) Reporter, citing the Solano County Sheriff's Office, said the officers tried to pull over Weeden's Hummer for a traffic stop, but that he led them on a chase and shot at them. The sheriff's office said Weeden had an "extensive criminal history," including weapons charges and robberies in multiple states, that he'd done 10 years for armed bank robbery, and was on federal probation when he was shot.

His mother demands punitive damages and requests a jury trial.

She is represented by Robert Cartwright Jr., of San Francisco.

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