Last week the federal jury trial began for a complaint against a Dallas Police officer accused of fatally shooting a man in 2015.
The family of Bertrand Syjuan Davis is suing police officer Sergeant Matthew Terry, alleging that he used “excessive force” against Davis.
According to court records, 43-year-old Davis was shot and killed by a Dallas Police Officer who, along with other officers, was trying to take him into custody in front of a home near Fair Park on August 27, 2015.
On that day, Davis and his wife drove to a house in the 3600 block of Penelope Street and were allegedly involved in a disturbance with a man who called the police to report a robbery.
Police said Davis set the house on fire, and officers saw him walking out of the burning house. They then tried to arrest him, but he apparently ignored their orders.
Police say Davis fought the officers who tried to subdue him with their taser guns and managed to get back into his wife’s car. During the course of the struggle, one of the officers, Terry, allegedly shot him.
According to the lawsuit, Davis’ family claims the shooting was unjustified and racially motivated.
“Officer Terry’s actions tragically took Bert’s life and is the logical and unconstitutional consequence of the DPD’s odious and illegal pattern, practice, custom … of harassing minorities, treating minorities as second-class citizens, and using unreasonable and unjustifiable force on minorities,” the lawsuit read.
The lawsuit alleges that Terry used excessive and unnecessary deadly force on Davis, saying he was a “mentally-ill man” who needed help.
On the other hand, Dallas Police said that Davis tried to take a gun inside his wife’s vehicle before he was killed and maintain that the shooting was warranted.
Police say that Davis was holding a realistic-looking pellet gun when the officer shot at him.
Terry’s lawyers also say that Davis was “extremely intoxicated” from drugs and alcohol at the time and had previously threatened people with the gun that day when he went to buy drugs at a home on Fitzhugh Avenue.
Officers further said that they found a box-cutter tucked into Davis’ pants after he was shot.
According to The Dallas Morning News, David Brown, the police chief at the time of the shooting, said that the officer’s use of force was a last resort. According to defense filings, Terry claimed he fired at Davis out of fear for his life after the latter reached for a gun under the car seat and “raised it toward” him.
Davis’ family says that he did not reach for anything that could be seen as a weapon. They also said that the pellet gun was found in a closed compartment under the passenger seat of the car and that there was no evidence that Davis had reached for the gun when the officer shot him.
The family also disputed police claims that Davis set the Penelope house on fire, saying that the man who reported Davis to 911 did not mention any fire at his home.
The lawsuit initially filed by Davis’ parents, Otis Davis Sr. and Dorothy Jackson, and his widow, Lasanda Travis-Davis, also named the City of Dallas. However, they dropped the City from the suit in 2019, making Terry the sole defendant.