Houston Man Fatally Shot Six Times in the Back by Off-Duty Police Officer
Family Requests Investigation by Department of Justice; Lawsuit Highlights Need for City of Houston to discipline HPD officers in officer-involved shootings.
Kennedy Hodges, LLP held a press conference at 10:30 a.m. on April 25, 2011 in front of City Hall to inform the media about a civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit in the case of John T. Barnes, Sr.
For almost two years, the City of Houston had withheld the autopsy report of John T. Barnes, Sr., a man who was fatally shot by a Houston police officer in August, 2009. The city finally released the autopsy report last Thursday and the results reveal exactly why Kennedy Hodges, LLP filed a civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit in this case.
The autopsy revealed that Barnes was shot once in the chest and six times in the back. The family of John T. Barnes, Sr., is requesting that the Department of Justice investigate the case.
Ryan Gardiner, the off-duty Houston police officer who shot Barnes, has yet to receive any disciplinary action. In two years of carrying a Taser, Gardiner had used it 14 times on Houston citizens. Gardiner had also reportedly been engaged in unjustified assaults on citizens amounting to excessive force, including at least one other shooting of an unarmed citizen. Gardiner is still an active police officer with HPD.
It is clear that Houston citizens are at risk of police brutality at the hands of Houston police officers because the city refuses to discipline officers who use excessive force. There are many reports that HPD officers who have a list of complaints against them are still kept on the force by HPD.
David Hodges of Kennedy Hodges, LLP, filed the Complaint naming the city on March 31, 2011.
Watch the Fox 26 news report - April 25, 2011: Family Files lawsuit Against HPD Officer