Dachena Warren-Hill, a 20-year-old Black woman, was attempting to drive away from the man who was abusing her when she was shot and killed by an Indiana police officer in 2023.
Officer Mark Guzman of the Fort Wayne police claimed he was in fear for his life when he opened fire, claiming she was driving her car directly toward him.
However, body camera footage released three months later shows Guzman was not directly in the car’s path because she was driving away from him when he opened fire.
Last week, her mother, Danisha Warren, filed a lawsuit in federal court against Guzman as well as the department’s former police chief and the man who was abusing her, Cedric Brown.
“The Fort Wayne Police Department is out of control,” Warren said during a protest last year, according to The Journal Gazette.
“It’s as if they’re trained to kill and not trained to protect and honor the community.”
According to the lawsuit filed by Indiana attorney D. Eric Neff on Aug. 4 on behalf of the victim’s mother:
In an attempt to flee the attack perpetrated by the Defendant, Cedric Brown, the deceased, Dachena Warren-Hill, ran to a vehicle, started it, and attempted to drive away from the attack.
When Defendant, Officer Mark A. Guzman arrived at the residence of 5144 Winchester Road Fort Wayne, Indiana, deceased Dachena Warren-Hill, was attempting to flee the property in a vehicle, and she did not pose a serious threat to the safety of Defendant Officer, Mark A. Guzman, nor did she pose a serious threat to the safety of herself or any other person.
Without any attempt to use less lethal weapons to subdue the decedent, Dachena Warren-Hill, Defendant Officer Mark A. Guzman drew his service firearm, and fired multiple gunshots into the vehicle being driven by the deceased Dachena Warren-Hill.
Guzman was cleared of wrongdoing three months after the shooting by the Allen County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, which stated in a press release that “the officer was justified in using force, as he reasonably believed that force was necessary to prevent serious bodily injury or death himself and/or citizens of this community.”
And while the body camera video clearly shows Warren-Hill was driving away from her abuser and the cop, Fort Wayne police tried to justify it by saying in a press release that a 911 caller told a dispatcher “the vehicle was attempting to run over the officer that had arrived on scene.”
However, it is not clear where that caller was situated at the moment because she also referred to the driver as a male when the driver was female.
Watch the video below.
‘It Was a False Narrative’
The shooting took place on Nov. 19, 2023, when Fort Wayne police responded to a domestic abuse call at a home where they had previously responded multiple times over domestic violence calls.
Two callers described a chaotic scene involving people fighting outside the home, including a male who kept ramming his car into the house and garage, as well as trying to run over other people.
“You got a guy that is like trying to run people over and they’re out there fighting like they’re running into the house,” one caller said, according to a recording released by police.
The dispatcher relayed that information to Guzman, telling him there was a fight and a man inside a car ramming it into the house.
When Guzman arrived, he spotted a man running away from a car that was driving forward, making it appear as if the car was trying to run the man over.
“He’s trying to hit someone!” the cop said into his radio.
However, the man stepped out of the way, and the car continued driving forward toward the street while Guzman stood off several yards to the driver’s side of the car — nowhere near its direct path.
Nevertheless, he fired at least six shots at the car, killing the 20-year-old woman who was trying to escape her abuser, according to the claim.
Defendant Officer Mark A. Guzman lacked probable cause to believe that the decedent, Dachena Warren-Hill, posed a threat of serious harm to others, or herself, as demonstrated by the fact that she was attempting to flee the property where she was being battered.
The Defendant Officer Mark A. Guzman’s willful, malicious, and intentional act of shooting the decedent, Dachena Warren-Hill was an unreasonable seizure of her person, and an unconstitutional use of deadly force intended to punish the decedent, Dachena Warren-Hill, without due process of law.
The lawsuit accuses Guzman of unreasonable seizure and excessive force and accuses former Police Chief Steve Reed of neglecting to properly train his officers and adopting an “unconstitutional policy” that was followed by officers.
The claim also accuses Brown of assault and battery, which led to her hopping in the car to make an escape, resulting in her death, accusing Brown of “striking, grabbing and hitting her repeatedly in a rude, insolent and angry manner.”
“That as a direct and proximate result of the actions of the Defendant, Cedric Brown, the police were called to the scene,” the claim states.
“That as a direct and proximate result of the actions of the Defendant, Cedric Brown, the decedent Dachena Warren-Hill was killed by the police.”
It took three months after the shooting for police to release the body camera video, and they only did so after the cop was cleared of wrongdoing.
In June 2024, protesters gathered at the Allen County Courthouse to protest the shooting.
“It was a false narrative that she was trying to run over the police officer,” her mother, Danisha Warren, told the crowd of protesters at the time. “That came out to not be true once it took them 91 days to release the bodycam footage.”
Great Job Carlos Miller & the Team @ Atlanta Black Star Source link for sharing this story.
