Lawsuit by Cameron Lamb’s family is one of several pending against Kansas City police
Family members of Cameron Lamb this week sued the board that oversees the Kansas City Police Department and the detective who fatally shot him in 2019 as he sat in a pickup truck in his backyard.
It is now one of several lawsuits pending against the police board or department members. The lawsuits stem from accusations of excessive force and alleged beatings, among other things.
In the federal lawsuit Monday, attorneys for Lamb’s family noted that other past excessive force claims have lead to large settlements.
That includes $725,000 paid out to settle a lawsuit brought by a 15-year-old boy who, during a 2019 arrest, suffered a gash on his head, as well as broken teeth. A sergeant, Matthew Neal, has been charged with felony assault in that case.
The new lawsuit, which is seeking more than $10 million on behalf of Lamb’s children, also points to the 2013 shooting of Philippe Lora. In that case, the police board paid out $4.8 million after officers shot Lora 20 times, leaving him partly paralyzed.
Lamb’s family’s lawsuit is one of at least two filed against Kansas City police this month stemming from past shootings.
The mother of Robert White, who was fatally shot by officers three years ago, sued June 11 over his death. That lawsuit contends that officers recklessly fired at least 17 bullets into White as he was being used as a “human shield” by another man armed with a gun June 14, 2018, at the Barney Allis Plaza near 12th and Wyandotte streets in downtown Kansas City.
Two other members of the police department, Officers Charles Prichard and Matthew Brummett — who were indicted last year for their parts in a widely-criticized arrest of a transgender woman — were also sued earlier this year. In that case, a man named Troy Robertson claimed the officers injured him so badly in 2019 that he now suffers from seizures and post-traumatic stress.
In a separate case, Prichard and Brummett pleaded not guilty to third-degree assault charges in the arrest of Breona Hill, a Black transgender woman, outside of a beauty supply store in 2019. Video showed that Hill’s face was smashed into the concrete sidewalk during the arrest, according to prosecutors. Two lawsuits have been brought against police in that case.
Days before Robertson’s lawsuit in March, Allen “Jay” Bloodworth, the owner of tow lot, filed a lawsuit against the police board, contending that officers violated his civil rights and killed his dog in 2019 while executing a search warrant on his property.
Other lawsuits filed against the department in the last year have stemmed from the fatal shooting of a dog in the Northland and the pepper spraying of protesters at the Country Club Plaza — an encounter captured in a video that went viral.
In the latest lawsuit, attorneys for Lamb’s children allege the police department has a “well-documented, continuing, widespread and persistent pattern” of using excessive and frequent deadly force.
The police department declined to comment on the lawsuit to “ensure fairness for all sides involved.”