Family Of Man Who Died In Taser Incident Sues DeKalb, Officers
The family of a man who died after being stunned with a Taser has filed a wrongful death suit against DeKalb County and three of its police officers, one year after the incident.
Troy Robinson, 33, was scaling a wall trying to flee the police after a traffic stop, when Officer Casey Benton fired his stun gun, according to a preliminary investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Robinson fell to the ground. An autopsy showed he died of severe head and neck trauma.
The family’s attorney, Mawuli Mel Davis, said as the passenger in the vehicle, Robinson had a right to flee, and that he and the driver were racially profiled.
“We are not backing up not one step from this issue of race being a factor in his stop, in his treatment and in the excessive force that was used against him,” Davis said.
Robinson’s family is asking for a jury trial and compensation.
A DeKalb Police spokeswoman said the department does not comment on pending litigation, though Benton, along with officers C.M Franklin and L.O. Niemann, who also responded to the incident, are currently working.
The DeKalb District Attorney’s Office is still investigating the case.
A spokesperson for the DA’s office says it has not yet been presented to a civil grand jury.