Relatives of 18-year-old VonDerrit Myers Jr. filed a wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday against Jason Flanery, the off-duty St. Louis police officer who shot the boy dead October 2014. The death of the boy, who was black, by the hand of the officer, who is white, caused protests.
According to ABC News, police reports stated that Myers fired at the officer, and Flanery, who was working an after-hours security job, returned fire at the boy and killed him. However, Myer's family argued that the police' version of the report was not accurate.
The lawsuit filed in St. Louis Circuit Court states that the 18-year-old "lost his life needlessly" and that the community improvement district and the security company were negligent in hiring Flanery. The suit says the security organization hired "dangerous security guards like Flanery who were likely to kill innocent citizens just walking down public streets."
Myer's death adds up to the increasing tension between the civilians and police officers in St. Louis.
Two months ago, 18-year-old Michael Brown was also shot and killed by a police officer at the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson. According to Fox 2 Now, the private security firm and community improvement district that hired Flanery are included as defendants in the lawsuit filed by Myer's relatives.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that there are several neighborhoods in St. Louis that pay private companies to hire extra security from services that hires off-duty police. In Myer's case, the Florida Place Community Improvement District hired GCI Security, which is the company that employed Flanery.
The circuit attorney's office announced in May that Flanery won't be charged and dropped the allegations that the police officer planted a gun on Myers. Flanery resigned from being a police officer last month after allegations of crashing his patrol car while intoxicated have surfaced. The lawsuit seeks for unspecified damages that could go beyond $25,000.
